Party On...

When it rains, it pours. Sometimes this is a good thing. This birthday was turning out to be one of my best ones in years. Another one of my close friends wanted to make me a special dinner so she invited Marni and me to come over for a little soiree on Saturday night. As it turned out, Marni was invited to a Sweet 16 party and had to take a pass. As it also turned out, she had to be at her affair the same time I had to be at my friend's house. Like I said...when it rains it pours. Since Dick was home, Marni asked him if he would pick her up at the end of the evening. Before Dick would commit, he expected to know the exact time when he needed to be there. Marni couldn't answer that question definitively because the party was going to end whenever everyone was ready to go home. This reply was not good enough for Dick. Being the anal kind of a guy that he is, he made Marni call the hostess to get a better answer. Not surprisingly, the response was still the same. Imagine that! This still wasn't acceptable to Dick. I just don't understand how his brain operates. Somehow, he thinks that if he asks the same question enough times, eventually he'll get the answer he wants to hear. Unfortunately, this was not his lucky day. Nor was it Marni's. Dick told her that he was going out and wouldn't be available to pick her up. Imagine that!

So in the middle of the afternoon, Marni made frantic calls to all her friends who were going to the party to try to work out a carpool. It should come as no surprise that at this late time, mostly everyone had already made plans. Finally she was able to arrange something with one of her friends who was in a debate tournament that afternoon but unfortunately wouldn't be able to leave her house until 6:00. Coincidentally, that was the time the Sweet 16 was called for and also when I was supposed to be at my friend's house. Imagine that! However it was what it was and at least Marni would be able to get a ride home and I could stay at my friend's house as late as I wanted. And of course Dick was not inconvenienced at all. I don't know how this guy does it. Without fail, he's always able to screw things up for everyone else while not being affected at all.

Nevertheless, we worked things out the best we could. Unfortunately, there was no way the girls were going to make it to the party on time. Also, I had to call my friend and explain why I would be late. She and her husband were not surprised. Things were not starting out the way I hoped. My nerves were completely shot and I was getting very riled up over the whole situation. However, once I got to her house, I started to mellow out. The bottle of wine I brought helped out tremendously. My friend, who is a phenomenal cook, prepared an amazing dinner. Again I ate way too much. After dinner, she surprised me with a spectacular birthday present: a beautiful hot pink purse. I needed a new bag very badly. She realized that and wanted me to have something colorful to cheer me up. She also mentioned that this was one of the hottest colors for spring. So not only did I get something that I loved, I was going to be hip, happenin' and stylin' too. Then she and her husband sang "Happy Birthday" to me and we devoured the homemade birthday cake and candies she made. Too full to move, the three of us played a word association game. We laughed away the night and when I looked up at the clock I was shocked to see that it was 2 am. It was hard to believe that the hours flew by so quickly. I was so happy, touched and elated. Could I really be the same person who started out the evening totally flipped out and a complete wreck? I was floating on Cloud Nine. There was absolutely, positively nothing that would bring me down from this high. That's how amazing I felt.

That is until I came home. Since Josh went back to school, I took up residence in his room. When I left the house earlier in the day, I locked his bedroom door and took the cheap generic key that can be used on any number of doors with me. When I returned home, Dick and Marni were sound asleep. Standing outside my temporary sleeping quarters , with key in hand, I was surprised to see that the door was already open. So much for privacy. While the door could easily be opened with a straightened paperclip, I didn't think that Dick would be so brazen as to unlock the door and leave it wide open. That cocky, arrogant jerk was sending me a message loud and clear that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants and no one is ever going to stop him...especially me.