My August 23 post was a long rumination about how I am frustrated and disappointed at the lack of response and/or reciprocation to the various parties, meetings, lunches and dinners we have hosted in the time we have lived in Charlottesville. In that post, I stated that I knew even as I wrote that I wasn't really meaning to stop entertaining, I was just venting, that I'd be back in the saddle before long.


Just a couple weeks' break, as it turned out. We invited a friend and her partner to dinner for last night, an invitation that was quickly accepted and which followed the usual negotiations surrounding time and "what can I bring."


So yesterday we did extra careful cleaning, even removing the cobwebs you can't see (not just the ones out in the open!). I roasted a chicken, steamed the broccoli, baked a loaf of bread, chilled the wine, crisped the berries, made ice cream and...


They forgot.


I wish I was making this up.


We called after about an hour, figuring that "fashionably late" expired around then. My husband was worried, since it is most unlike them to be late for anything let alone something like this. As soon as the line was picked up I heard a woman screaming, "OHMIGOD! I AM SO SORRY! ARGH" and the conversation went on from there, with my husband assuring of no harm/no foul and expressing our gratitude that at least they're not hurt, that we were concerned and alternating with their sincere apologies.


But still. I think I need a longer break.