Strangers among us.

Here's our weekend:

Lastnight, I had a union function to attend.  Jojo was invited for a slumber party and Bo was having some friends over to break in the new basement "man cave."  Chuck was in charge of the homefront while I was pressing the flesh and hearing the union's take on all things political.  When I got on the road, I called to say that I was coming home.  I meant to ask if anyone wanted me to pick up sandwiches or anything, but before I could get the words out, Chuck hung up on me.  Strange, but okay, I guess.  By the time I got home, the little girls were asleep and the males in the house were playing poker in the "man cave."  Poker is a favorite activity of my husband, but I have never seen him play with teenagers.  Uh...strange, but okay, I guess.

Today, I was scheduled to sell "spirit wear" at the field before Jojo's game.  I got to the field on time, but couldn't find a spirit wear table.  I wandered around for a few minutes, before I ran into anyone who looked like they may know what was going on.  We found the spirit wear, and wheeled the rolling racks out for sale.  The other mom who was scheduled to help, got the money box and helped with the first couple of sales.  But then she started talking to another cheer mom from a different squad, and the talk became intense.  The other mom was really agitated and they moved aside, I guess, to get some privacy.  I tried to respect their privacy and moved to the other side of the rolling racks and started to straighten the shirts, visors, car magnets, etc.  Apparently, three was still a crowd, and they moved even further away.  At first, I felt bad for the mom who was having apparent issues, and for the mom who was getting an earfull!  But then, she never came back to the spirt wear sale. 

Off in the distance, I could see the spirt wear mom was sitting at a picnic table eating something and laughing with some other folks.  About 45 minutes later, she came by to tell me that I could put everything away and turn the money box in at the snack shack because there "...wasn't enough left to sell to anyone else."  Huh?  I had two rolling racks full of shirts, visors, car magnets, etc.  What kind of rush was she expecting?  And, frankly, how would she know what we had left since she had spent the vast majority of the spirit wear sale time privately talking, eating and laughing.  Strange, but okay, I guess.

Tonight, we had the kids covered, and Chuck and I had a dinner date.  We did this a couple months ago, and found that we really benefitted from taking some time to get reaquainted as a couple, rather than as simply partners in this gig called parenting.  We decided on a local Italian restaurant and headed out.

When the waiter came over, he and Chuck struck up an instant rapport.  It was kind of funny...at first.  The waiter told Chuck about the dinner specials, made recommendations to Chuck, took Chuck's order first and asked Chuck how everything was after we had taken a couple of bites.  When we were finished, the waiter asked Chuck if he had room for dessert, took Chuck to the pastry case in the front of the restaurant, made recommendations to Chuck, brought Chuck his dessert and espresso.  I guess it was a good thing that I was chewing when he asked how everything was, and didn't save room for dessert.  When I asked Chuck if he thought the waiter was acting weird, he was completely perplexed by my question.  Now, I'm positive that this was strange...and not okay with me. 

Consequently, Chuck headed to the "man cave" when we got home, and I took the opportunity to catch up on some reading.  Eventually, he came up and said he was going to bed early.  Also strange, and not okay.

Tomorrow, Chuck is driving to Baltimore for the little girls' karate tournament.  It's an all-day event.  I'm staying on the homefront to attend Family Fun Day with Jojo and Bo at the football field.  Sigh!