Bear With Me - I Must Confess...

What a night. You get to read the story. Because I feel like it will somehow help (yep, selfish).

Last month at the OIWC meeting, the Japanese side board President invited the group to a concert being held in October. A Russian Orchestra. I was intrigued and interested. I really wanted to take Mia and Craig and also thought of my friend Annya since she is Russian, but it ended up that didn't work out (not really part of the story). Point is - YES YES I WANT TO GO! I signed up for 5 tickets. Besides - they were FREE!

Yesterday was the OIWC monthly luncheon, and a woman came and found me with an envelope with my 5 blue tickets. But Annya and her family had hopped a flight to mainland and I needed to give away two tickets. So I called my friend Elizabeth. She and her hubby are kidless, and that way we could all go without needing another ticket. She & her hubby were into it! YAY! Going to a concert, how fun. So this morning I gave her the tickets, and we talked about what to wear and when to be there - it was down in Naha at 7, so we were going to leave early. As it turns out, it was a really windy & rainy night - so it was a good thing we had that plan.

I gave her directions and we said we'd call when we were close. We left our house a little bit before 6. As we were about to get on the expressway, Ebeth called me. "We passed the exit on the expressway and now we're lost." They had a map, I had a map, and we tried to figure out the situation. But she hadn't eaten and was thinking they might need to stop for food. But they didn't want to be late. At about 6:30 we had gotten off the expressway at our exit and were in parking lot traffic. UGH.

So now Ebeth is calling me with her tales of woe about being lost. And just a little side note folks... being lost in Okinawa at night in the rain is horrendous. You don't know what direction you're going, ALL THE SIGNS ARE IN JAPANESE, and the routes aren't marked and you can't really stop and ask for directions. I took pity on her and held my map as Craig sat in the driver's seat - butt aching from sitting in traffic. Mia had a book and a new book light (thanks, Grandma!) so she was set thank goodness, but now it's 6:45 and she's getting antsy (aren't we all).

Finally things were looking up. I could tell from our map & where we were driving that we were close. Ebeth & Dean had finally FOUND 330 and were headed in almost the right direction - they'd passed their destination but they were going to turn around. We were both STILL in awful traffic, I might add. Now Mia's whining, Craig is squirming and saying things like, "This had better be awesome..." and we FINALLY see what we're looking for! The Naha Civic Hall! Like a beacon in the night.

"TURN HERE, Babe! This is IT!" I'm on the phone with Ebeth when we find it and as we can't see where to go to park, I tell her, "I'll call you back - just turn around and make a left on 222!"

Suddenly I realize. It's dark. NOBODY is driving around the hall. There's lots of traffic, but there are no people at all by this thing... what gives? Then Craig asks, "Are you sure it's tonight?" I pull my tickets from my purse.

"Yeah - tonight's the 6th!"

"It's the 7th."

Wow. I've never been quite so sorry that my daughter was in the car. Maybe it was a blessing because I would've woven a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know would still be hanging in space over Lake Michigan. I picked up my cell phone.

"Yeesssssssss?"
"Ebeth. You're gonna hate me."
"Oh no...what?!?!"
"It was last night."
"No! You're lying! No it wasn't!"
Then Dean starts saying, no, screaming exactly what I wanted to say in the background. They have skipped dinner and spent the last hour and a half LOST for heaven's sake!

I felt awful. Still do. I am filling out an I'm Sorry ecard in addition to the mea culpa here in print. I suck. And the worst part is - besides having to drive HOME in that same traffic - that my husband and kid, dressed nicely and dealing with the forever ride for the payoff and I - we didn't get to see the show. And it's not like it's tomorrow- it's over.

So - don't shed a tear. Go ahead and laugh at me. But I am definitely bummed and sorry. And very happy that this is NOT typical of Aviva. Never ever again!