My poor husband must think he's losing his mind.
First it was the soil meeting he signed up for. He told me about it. He was really looking forward to it. But he forgot to go. The day came and went and he didn't give it a single thought until I discovered that he had utterly and completely missed it. He was so disappointed. He says when he signed up for it, he was mentally noting that it was on December 1st. December, in his mind, was in the future. And it was. But December
FIRST was NOT as far into the future as his brain had led him to relax about. Sigh.
To think he has the better memory of the two of us.
Then last night, something else happened that jolted his confidence in his ability to remember things. He got off the phone and says, "I am supposed to pick up Levi Yoder at the train station TOMORROW morning not THURSDAY morning like I thought." Clearly, Levi's name had been penned in on Thursday's slot on the calendar. (Levi Yoder, btw, is no relation.)
"I am supposed to be there at 4AM instead of 1AM. I guess they changed the time. And now there are TEN people to pick up instead of TWO." Paul mumbled something about this last part. He had taken our Amish neighbor Levi and his wife to the bus station a couple weeks ago so they could go to another state for medical treatment. (So, Levi and his wife left by bus, but would be returning by train.)
We don't haul Amish people for a living, as some in our area do, but we do provide the favor for the occasional neighbor. He usually takes Levi and his wife in the truck because it's cheaper to run than the van. Ten people would certainly require the van.
He had Trent go out and fuel up the van last night so it would be ready for early take off this morning.
At 2:30AM, Paul rolled out of bed groaning, "Why did I tell them I'd do this?" He wished he could be sleeping instead. But he dutifully got up, printed out directions to the Clevertown train station and left.
Along about 5AM, the phone was ringing. I tumbled out of bed to answer it. "Hello?"
I missed his first name, but it was a Petershiem calling wondering if someone from our house was planning to pick up a group of ten people from the ELTOWN train station.
I wake up crazily. My mind takes a while to come into full focus. I sat for a moment dumbstruck.
"Well," I said, "Paul is waiting in Clevertown for you right now."
"I clearly told him to pick us up in Eltown," the man said.
"Ok," I told him, "Let me give him a call and I'll get him on his way to get you."
All the while, *I* am worrying that my husband is slipping just a touch. "Paul? Hey, you are supposed to be at the ELTOWN train station to pick them up, not the CLEVERTOWN train station."
Paul had been wondering why their train wasn't showing up. "Eltown? I was sure they told me Clevertown." We worked together a bit so he could figure out how to get to the other train station. He repeated again that he thought for sure Levi had told him to get him in Clevertown.
As I was padding off to my comfy bed, the thought was washing over me. "Oh, I think I have this figured out......." I was going to call Paul to tell him, but I decided to wait to see if he also figured it out.
At about 6:30AM, Paul sends a text. "It's not Levi."
Yeah, I was thinking that. I had surmised----correctly-----that this was a different group of travelers he was picking up. They just happened to almost over lap with the previous arrangements.....just enough over lap to create some confusion on the particulars of who/when/where. Plus, the phone call that came to make arrangements for the pick up of the ten people was done by proxy. The kind of Amish people we're dealing with here only talk on the phone if the absolutely have to; otherwise they have someone else do all the talking for them. Paul had no way of knowing who was coaching the speaker on the phone last night. He just assumed it was Levi....but it wasn't!
The next text Paul sends says, "I have to go to Clevertown tomorrow morning."
Ugh. So, he gets to repeat the whole middle-of-the-night thing.....again. Different train station, different set of people.
The whole thing reminds me of the time my brother and his wife were supposed to pick up a lady from our church at the airport. They punctually arrived at the Clevertown airport and proceeded to wait....and wait....and wait.....
Meanwhile the lady's plane landed at the Cotown airport where she proceeded to wait....and wait....and wait. She finally had him paged over the speaker system.
They called, "Is there a Jeff F-- here? Jeff F--, your party is waiting." over and over. An older couple my brother and I both knew happened to be walking through the airport hearing the announcement repeated. This was before cell phones.
Hmmmm, they were thinking, we know a Jeff F---. Could it be the same one? Should we find out? They finally went to find out. Sure enough. They didn't know the lady my brother was supposed to be picking up, but they were put in contact with her by the airport people. They compared notes and decided that my brother was at the wrong airport (2 hours away!!!!), so our older friends brought her closer to home with them!
~Colleen
