For several weeks now, we had planned a weekend at the shore with Kerry & Hugh, Kerry's dad George, Joe's mom Evelyn, and possibly an additional friend or two. Because of all the people involved, we picked a future date and made sure we all saved that weekend. It was sure to be fun, and we'd been looking forward to it for so long.
Unfortunately it was raining on Friday night as we headed up to the shore. Despite the anticipation of a fun weekend, I was not in a good mood. I had a very stressful day at work, and when I got home I found that Joe had told his mom to bring her dog with her. (Her dog was supposed to stay at her daughter's.) I don't like her dog because she's spoiled and she stares at me. She is a pug, with those ugly bulging eyes, and she will sit and stare at me like I'm some circus freak or something. But the real reason is that her dog is allowed to get on the furniture, which we do not allow. I am allergic to dogs and can't tolerate pet hair and dander on the furniture. Now we were heading up to the shore for a weekend of rain and three dogs. (Kerry & Hugh always bring their dog, whom I don't mind because he's so tiny and doesn't lounge on the furniture.)
On the way up there it seemed we got behind every clueless idiot possible. I'm not an aggressive driver, but I like to get where I'm going quickly and safely, especially when its dark and there's no sightseeing to be done. But we got behind people driving 5 mph under the speed limit in the left lane. Three of them. At different times. I gave them the courtesy quick-flash of the high beams to let them know 'hey, I need to move out of the left lane now'. Only one of them responded. The others had to get step two, which is me drifting slightly to the left so that my headlights are in their side view mirror and then I give them the not-so-courteous longer flashes of the high beams. One of them still refused to move, which made my bad mood even worse.
While that was going on, Joe's mom's dog was going nuts. She's not used to riding in the car for more than 5 minutes, and she just wouldn't settle down. She kept whining and barking and snorting, and I was getting more mad at Joe for bringing that hideous thing along. All the while Joe's mom (whom I love dearly) kept making random comments about the rain. Maybe she was nervous because her dog wouldn't shut up. Maybe she just didn't know what to say on a 3 hour car ride. But I could see it was raining. I had my windshield wipers on. We had already talked in depth about the forecast for rain all night and all the next day. I think the rainy weather had been sufficiently established already. Let's move on. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love spending time with Evelyn. We have dinner with her every Thursday and we always laugh and have a good time. :-)
We finally get up there and Joe helps his mom and the two dogs get inside, where the others are all waiting, leaving me to unload the suitcases and other bags all by myself, in the rain. I really wasn't in the mood to socialize, so I made up ours and Evelyn's beds and distributed towels to all of the bathrooms in the house. When I had nothing left to do and was feeling a little less pissed off, I joined everyone in the living room and made myself an Appletini. Actually, it was more like 2 Appletinis because these martini glasses are so big that a single drink looks silly in them, so I made it a double. Meanwhile, more comments about the rain.
The next day we all had a leisurely breakfast of doughnuts, crumb cake, coffee, juice and milk and planned our day. (My mood was back to normal.) Kerry & Hugh were going to Ocean City and Bethany to run some errands. Some of the others wanted to go to some outlet stores, so after showers all around, Kerry, Hugh, and George went to OC and all the rest of us went shopping. Again, more comments about the rain. It had also gotten very windy, so it felt even colder than it really was, so we cut our shopping trip short and headed back to the house. Some napped, some watched TV, and others made comments about the rain.
Kerry, Hugh, and George returned and we talked about where to go for dinner. Once again, someone (not Evelyn) thought it necessary to inform everyone that it was raining, because this could likely make a difference where we ate. I'd had it! I said to everyone: "Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention please. I believe we all know it's raining. In fact, we've all been out in the rain at some point today. So if anyone else says that its raining, I'm going to shoot myself... after I shoot them." There were a few chuckles, and I believe my point was taken. We had a lovely dinner at The Lighthouse Restaurant and then returned to the house to watch "Serial Mom", after which everyone went to bed.
Sunday morning we had another leisurely morning (same breakfast food) but this time we sat around longer, just talking. I think that was my favorite time of the whole weekend. After showers, everyone began packing up. Kerry & Company headed out for more shopping, and Joe, Evelyn, and I went to lunch and then headed home. Although we got caught in a traffic jam related to the Bay Bridge repaving, hey... at least it wasn't raining!
Although the weekend started off badly for me, we all had a really fun time.
No comments:
Post a Comment