Thanksgiving Clusterf*, continued

0900--I call Mom

A.: Mom, it occurred to me that there might be affordable flights out of National on Monday. You can fly into BWI and out of National. I found some for $150.

Mom: But I already invited Misha over for Thursday.

A.: Okay then.

Mom: Are you hurt?

A.: No. I understand.

Mom: I am kind of disappointed that we won’t be spending TG together.

A.: Me too, but I understand. Anyway, I'd better go.

0930--Mom calls me.

Mom: Why don’t you come up here?

A.: First of all, I don’t want to leave the cat on her own.

Mom: Oh, please. Just leave her a bunch of food.

A.: It doesn’t work that way, mom. You know that.

Mom: Can you find other people to have Thanksgiving with?

A.: Probably not at this point, but I have things to do. It’s okay.

Mom: I feel bad.

A.: Don’t. But I have to get back to work.

1100--Mom leaves a message:

Mom: Call me back in exactly 20 minutes.


1330--I call mom.

A.: I just got your message, mom.

Mom: What’s the airport code for National?

A.: DCA. The tickets that were available in the morning are no longer listed. The only ones remaining are over $600 each way, per person.

Mom: I’ll look for other things.

A.: Okay, but I’ll understand if you don’t end up coming. It might be best at this point to not spend anymore time on this. The options are pretty clear.

1430--Mom calls me.

Mom: I’ve found indirect flights in and out of National.

A.: Not worth it, mom. Think about it: those are at least three hours, and you’ll have to be there an hour early, and then you’ll have to get to the airport. May as well drive.

Mom: I just don’t know. Are you very hurt?

A.: Mom, I understand the circumstances. This isn’t about feelings. But I can’t keep talking about this. I have to get back to work.

Mom: I feel a little better about this now. I felt really bad after that last conversation—you make it sound like this is all my fault.

A.: I never said that.

Mom: No, but you imply it.

A.: Can we talk about this later? I have to get back to work.


1530--Mom calls me.

Mom: We can get to Philadelphia and rent a car.

A.: Mom. That’s ridiculous. You may as well fly into Baltimore (or just drive).

Mom: What about the way back?

A.: The only reasonable option for the way back, at this point, is taking my car back. I can drive it back down when I come up for the holidays.

Mom: I don’t want to drive through or around New York. Check flights out of National.

A.: I’ve checked flights out of National. This morning, there were very reasonable flights for Monday morning. They’re gone now.

Mom: Why didn’t you buy them?

A.: You told me not to! You told me you already invited Misha.

Mom: We’ll check tomorrow morning.

A.: Mom, I think it’s time to move on. It’s just not going to happen.

Mom: But…

A.: Mom!

Mom: I don’t want to talk to you anymore!

A.: I don’t want to talk to you anymore, either. I have to get back to work.

***
It would have been nice, theoretically, to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, but it was becoming more trouble than it was worth. I'm not saying anything's mom's fault--I agree it's a long drive, and I never liked the rationale behind driving (i.e. there's too much crap that they have to bring me). Now, had the reality of the long drive sunk in earlier, we could have looked for reasonable flights, but whatever--things often seem like a good idea at the time. I can deal with spending Thanksgiving by myself, although, again, had this been decided beforehand, I could have made plans with other people. Luckily, I decided to wait until tonight to shop for the vegetables, so I haven't ended up with a bunch of perishable food that I can't use. I'm going to make myself pumpkin pudding and roast up the farm share butternut squash. Maybe I'll even make moussaka--I have all the ingredients anyway. and this way I don't have to listen to my parents complain about it. I understand that the plans didn't work out, but I also understand that, work-wise, I couldn't afford to break away from my desk every hour to discuss the situation with my mother. Taking a few minutes to shop for tickets is one thing; going around in circles about the options is entirely another thing, especially when the only workable options are clear. Same for hashing out the interpersonal fallout--we can do that when I'm home. And the sooner I could get back to what I was doing, the sooner I could go home.

Anyway, that's where we left it. I know some of you were looking forward to some four-day mom blogging, but you'll have to settle for any additional phone calls.