(Background to the text messaging below. S is a former colleague where I worked prior to retirement. We are not super close, but last year I said I would invite him to our house in April...which I never did. He HAS been here a few years ago. The text message that I refer to below left off with that invite.)
S:
saw you were online and thought to say hello
ME:
Hello! Saw my message above and feel guilty about not making arrangements for having you guys come canoe or boat. Are you interested?
S:
oh, I will ask the wife
I am, but not sure how excited she would be
she liked it before
ME:
We could do hiking in the local park instead??
S:
she is a slow walker
canoeing might be better
ME
ooookaay. Check for an April weekend and will see if we can coordinate.
S:
I will ask her right now
ME:
good
S:
well, she is on phone
I will ask when she gets off
what have you guys been up to
ME:
No problem. I am off to do lots of laundry today. Was up in the city to meet up with my brother and sis in law and then babysat grandkids. Now a bit exhausted with a looong list of errands.
S:
my experience is that one gets busier after retirement
not a bad thing, just doing more of what you like I planted radish and collard sees in garden last weekend
ME:
Actually I loved Jan. because I did not have much to do! I am behind on seed planting although husband has the spring garden seeds in.
S:
I have much to do to get mine ready
including new fencing to keep out deer
My flower beds need wedding and then mulching....
Weeding
ME:
I am working on a free software setup for our mastergardener volunteers, I need to call window cleaners, I have to clean the bird bath, move the outside plant shelf, get the wood off the porch, do some more detail stuff for our visa to China, take my car up for an environmental check....
S:
Sharon says she is "not opposed" to being on the water
not a huge ringing endorsement of the idea, but she is onboard (so to speak)
Me:
motor boat or canoe?
Second weekend in April??
S:
that would work
canoe is OK with me. Sharon will be alright with it.
I will get her exercising more in the coming weeks to get ready
ME:
Ok. Lets set the 14th for and let me know if you are planning on staying overnight.
S:
oh, 14th
I was confusing with the weekend before
yes, that will be fine
I will get back to you on the overnight
we would probably come back home
ME:
Ok. Going to pull laundry out of the dryer.
S:
alright, let us talk again
soon
adios
APR 1, 2019, 11:57 AM
ME:
Looks like our painter is coming on Saturday, so we have to be here for that. What about Sunday?
APR 1, 2019, 2:33 PM
ME:
Sorry, I got confused. We scheduled for next weekend? That would be the 13th??
SUN 7:28 PM
S:
yes, I was thinking we would come next weekend
13th? your painter coming on 12th?
let me know when we should show up
MON 8:28 AM
ME:
Let me get back to you this afternoon as I am off this morning to help some children learn how to size oyster spat! This week is full!
MON 2:50 PM
ME:
13th is fine. We have been juggling repair projects. You can come down anytime you get here, but let us make sure we keep an eye on the weather!!
MON 6:11 PM
S:
yes, ma'am
so, late morning/early afternoon. it will take us about 2 hours, I think, to get there
ME:
It takes us 1 1/4 hours from (suchandsuchcity), IF there is no real traffic problem.
S:
we live a little further, so probably will take two hours
I will talk to wife and see how soon she wants to wake up. She sleeps in a bit
ME:
Whatever works for you. We can keep up-to-date by phone or text.
We are now sitting in the dark due to the storm!
TUE 9:23 AM
S:
do you use gmail? you can get in touch with me via Hangouts
TUE 11:05 AM
ME:
I do not use Hangouts, too much info to them, but I do have #######@gmail.com. I have several IM apps and they confuse the hell out of me!
TUE 5:55 PM
Me:
I will use your email
At a meeting now, but have some questions for you tomorrow!
WED 12:38 PM
S:
I will be outside this afternoon, but have my phone with me.( ###-###-####)
Chat Conversation End
For further information, these friends are also vegan and that means a shopping trip for food for me or a study of best restaurants. After watching the rains the night before and morning phone call on the day of the meet up we decided, since it was raining off and on all weekend, we would postpone...but no future date has been set. I am thinking the wife is very relieved and we may not revisit this again.....
It does sound a bit like both sides were pushing hard for it to happen while simultaneously hoping it wouldn't. :-)
ReplyDeleteI guess you may be right. You have good people insight.
DeleteHmmm, sounds to me like the wife got her way. Still, it's nice to catch up with old friends.
ReplyDeleteInteresting exchange. I think its one that happens more often then not with folks. They really do want to visit or have visitors, but neither wants to be the first to say it is all right to plan later in the year.
ReplyDeleteSometimes complicated catch ups are not worth it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe meeting at a restaurant half way between both of you would be more in the wife's style.
ReplyDeleteGood advice from Messymini.
ReplyDeleteI’m with Messymimi too.
ReplyDeletesounds like you are both glad the weather intervened.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing. Four hours on the road just to have a couple of hours with you. Then again, if they stayed over night, it would work well.
ReplyDeleteI think DJan got it right. It's sort of a "we should, but do we really want to" situation.
ReplyDeleteThe danger of random chats. You can get yourselves into things.
ReplyDelete