Big Mistake

my friend nechama and her husband finally arrived in zefat at around 6:00p.m. the house was freezing. i was freezing and my guests were freezing. i brought out one of the new heaters that i just bought but it really didn't heat up the kitchen area that much and it must have used up a lot of electricity. big mistake! i should have just turned on the heating system for an hour, while they were here. i think that there might have been some fuel left in the tank from last winter. while nechama was in the bathroom, her husband turned to me and asked me, pont blank, if i could afford to heat the house. it was just a little too close for my comfort zone. when they pulled up to the house, nechama exited the car, holding on to a rather, large, plastic bag that she just couldn't wait to hand over. she had already told me on the phone that she was bringing me something that would make me smile, when i saw it. i was getting a bit curious and was hoping that it might be a snapshot from one of our plays. but, much to my diasappointment, it wasn't a photograph. it was a very skinny, dishevelled, shiny, royal blue dress with sequins. it looked like a size 1. nechama thought that i was the only one in the land of israel who could appreciate such a find! she also thought that i could still fit into somethiing so small or use it in a future production. big mistake! i wish i never laid eyes on that rag. i told nechama that she was probably, the only one i knew, that was thin enough, to wear that dress. what ever, possessed her, to haul that shmatta clear across the country and bring it to zefat? i guess one could say, it was nostalgia. speaking of nostalgia, i showed nechama, a picture taken at her wedding of myself and another girlfriend, who had passed away about four years ago. another big mistake! first of all, it was still, too sad to talk about our beloved and deceased friend, mindy. and second, it was so sad that nechama had to explain to her husband that the very slender and attractive lady, smiling in the wedding photo from eight years ago, was, in fact, me, the slightly, twisted and overweight middle-aged woman sitting across from him in the kitchen. i could see the slightest shock in nechama's face when she looked at me. she said right away that i didn't look like myself. what had happened to the pretty lady in the picture from eight years ago? so we drank some tea and said our goodbyes. they had a dinner date with some friend, in town. i asked nechama if she would like to receive my blogs. she said that she wasn't really 'into' blogs, all that much. she prefered the phone. we hugged and they were gone. it was already, 7:00 p.m. and my son hadn't come home from work, so i called him. big mistake! he was still in town shopping for an expensive piece of jewelry, to give his wife next week, for their first anniversary. he then told me the price and i asked him why he needed to spend that much money on a ring. big mistake! he then asked if i could help him out with some of the payment. we agreed to talk about it when he came home. i looked up at the clock and it was almost 8:00 p.m. i decided to call a taxi and run over to the hospital to visit the new mom. visiting hours end at 9:00 p.m, so i figured that it would have to be a short visit. i searched all around the house for a gift, but everything i had bought was pink. after all, she had been told, all along, that she was carrying a girl. when i got to the hospital, i bought a lovely tin of apple candies from the gift shop. i was prepared to tell the new mom, that it was the only thing not pink, that i could come up with. when i reached the fourth floor i ran to the nurses' station to check for her room number. i was told that she had already gone home. i guess she went to her mother's house. big mistake, leaving the house at night! i jumped in to another taxi, and came home. my son was home and seemingly, miffed. he made it quite clear that he couldn't afford to buy his wife a nice gift because he had spent so much of his budget paying me for half of the electricity this month. for just a moment i thought that, maybe, i should have not answered my phone today. big mistake!