Bookclub.
We have it only once a month and I have thirty days to read the book before we have our meeting. I never actually read the book. In fact, most months I spend more time researching the book, reading the Cliff’s Notes and the studying the online summaries, than I would have spent actually reading the book itself. I have become an expert at book research and Cliff’s Notes. If I was back in school I would be quite popular with the kids willing to pay for book reports. But, I’m not selling book reports to lazy high school English students. Instead, my intention is to show up at book club and somehow fool everyone into thinking I’d actually read the book of the month. It’s become a challenge. This time the book was The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, and as usual I didn’t read the book, but this time I didn’t even have time to find the Cliff’s Notes or online summaries, or even Wikipedia. I did take five minutes at lunch today to read the summary from the online movie database. Apparently the story was so good it was made into a movie. I could lie and say I will read it later, but I probably won’t. I’m too busy writing my blog. But, I’m not too busy to take a few hours out of my evening to spend with friends and assorted treats, including red wine and frosted cupcakes, to discuss the book I didn’t bother to read. It’s always a fun time, but this month would be especially fun because it involved a road trip. Just a short one, but it meant carpooling to Marietta. Our book club consists of seven regulars, five of which live in my neighborhood, and two who live about thirty minutes away. So the plan was to stuff the five of us into one Honda CRV for the ride. And since I wasn’t driving, I needed to be ready by six-thirty.
I got home from work at the usual time, and set to work catching up on email and Facebook before getting ready to go. My husband cooked homemade vegetable soup, so I decided to have a bowl of that while I multitasked and texted. The soup was pretty good, and I was hoping it would ruin my appetite for sweets at the meeting.
I don’t know how long I was working before I realized that I was going to be late if I didn’t hurry. I made a mad dash for the bedroom and quickly shed my business attire for something more casual…and fun. Book club crowd had not seen the hot pink fur sweater as of yet, so I decided that would be perfect!
Armed with my signature dish (spinach dip and pita chips) my notebook, and my purse—and wearing my crazy sweater—I headed down the stone steps that went from my front porch down the hill to the sidewalk below. The carpool was supposed to stop at the house across the street to pick us up, so that was where I would wait.
It was strange, how dark the house was. The neighbor’s dog was barking at me through the glass door, and I could see that no one was even coming to investigate. That too was strange. I wondered if I’d missed a message. Perhaps we were meeting at a different house. I pulled out my blackberry and scrolled through the messages until I found the one detailing the plans.
Nope. Everything was the same. Pick up was set for six thirty, and it was only just…wait. I looked at my messages again and sighed.
It was only five thirty! I swear I do not do these things on purpose!
I trudged with my fancy bowl of spinach dip, and my notebook, and my purse, and my bag of pita chips, back up the stone steps to the front porch. I closed the door behind me, secretly wondering if anyone had noticed my strange behavior.
That’s when I knew this would make for a perfect entry for tonight’s blog! Everything happens for a reason!
I have an early morning, so I should really get some sleep!
Until the next time…I’ll be sleepwalking through my day!
Erica