Party in the Rapture?

I've had a friend for years now and we aren't like, every day talking friends, or even weekly talking friends? What kind of friend is that called? One who is probably busier than I am, we mostly meet up at end-of-the-year school functions like the carnival and field day. But she's the one who had the boys and me over for breakfast the first Christmas Eve after separating myself from the Household of Hellish Gay Ex-husband.

Swedish pancakes on my first birthday/Christmas Eve/Stipulation Mandated Alternating Christmas with the kids.

Well I can explain that better. In another life I worked as a church secretary and she was/is a member of the church and also she started out the HR person at the church until she had her children and blah blah blah. The summer I moved to this apartment was the beginning of a difficult-to-adjust-to social calendar for my children... days at dads, days with me, blah blah blah, holidays where I still tried to be a part of the family I'd just spent years with, for lack of any of my own nearby, but was obviously no longer viewed as acceptable in their eyes. So at a point in my life when I was really quite pathetic and sad she was one of the people who made sure I had social occasions to attend and something resembling a "life" aside from work. Oh and mostly I love to help set up or clean up or set out veggie platters or bring things to the recycling bin at her house when she has parties. One day I will have real house like hers so helping clean up is one way of hanging around a little longer and drinking lovely wine, enjoying the large orderly garage, expansive counter tops, large scenic windows. Gigantic basement play-room (which my own apartment would fit in) leading out to an in-ground pool. Okay. So.

J & I were invited to the birthday party for her husband. Yesterday. The day supposedly the world was going to end?


We always sit together at the marching band parades, and she said if she had known it was going to be the Rapture or whatever this weekend, she would have planned it for a different day. I told her I couldn't go on the Rapture trip because my oldest doesn't believe, and I'm totally not leaving my kid here to fend for himself, so we may as well have a party.

See that house in the background behind the drum line? It has an orange metal roof, and in the fall the tree in front turns the most amazing color gold. That's probably the house for me.

Another friend of mine, the across the street board game playing friend, was there too. At the party, not the parade. Well he may have been at the parade too but not with us. His and her sons are really good friends. They were friends of his before I was.  I really enjoy him and his wife and family though. I personally just butted my way into the friendship with him, being how his daughter and one of my sons are in the same grade and he lives across the street from me. Mostly my kids adore playing over at his house. Because it is an actual house. You know, with a living room AND a dining room AND a game room AND a kitchen/breakfast room AND a finished basement for even more games AND a whole upstairs. See how I need a house? One day I will have a house.

He said he was at a tulip festival with his mom and she's a real church-going Catholic and he was getting on her nerves pronouncing it "Raptor" and expecting a big flock of hawks or pterodactyls to come swooping down on us. He says he saw The Birds, he knows how it happens.

Oh okay so last night something even more awkward than my attempts to explain my house-envy happened. The pastor of the church where I worked until he decided to get rid of me for making too many mistakes or something. Or perhaps because he was secretly in love with my ex-husband's boyfriend? I've heard a few different stories about that. The jury is still out. But, last night I had to Talk to him. Ugh. It was way after five o'clock, or six or whatever but I was wishing right then and there he'd go up in the Rapture all by his lonesome. Instead I had to stand there and tell him how awesome I am. At first when he walked in the house he looked right at me and then he quick looked away and slinked off to some other part of the house. I was pretty hopeful he'd just ignore me all night but somehow he managed to walk right up to me in all his fakeness and talk about how wonderful it is that I'm so awesome. Then later his wife came up and smiled all toothy at me, (she reminds me of a black-haired version of my ex-mother-in-law (out-law?) except less stooped, emaciated, and bizarrely anti-Lauren) and I think we said about five words to each other about how awesome it is that I'm so awesome, and she then said something about hey they're cutting the cake and I said Oh yeah better not miss that.