My "That Awkward Moment When..." Story

For those of you close to me, you've heard all about this story - many of you even there to witness it.  It happened on a certain Friday over four weeks ago and I think after a month, I can finally laugh about it. At the time, I had said, "This would be a really funny story - if it wasn't about me." Also, I had added something about how I must have inadvertently made people's work-weeks a little less stressful.  I imagined laughter and the response, "No, she didn't! That's too funny!"

It all started on a mild, late September day as I opened the mailbox to find a credit card statement the size and weight of a small brick.  "How did we charge this much?" I wondered aloud.  Of course, when I thought about it, we had gone on vacation back in August.  I ripped into the envelope and the list of charges uncoiled to the floor.  Charge by charge, item by item, I relived our week in North Carolina until I arrived at the very bottom of the list and ... "Hello - What's this?"

It's just like the movie, Identity Thief - I was sure of it!  I was a victim of fraud.  There was a charge for 200 big ones for a local sports bar/eatery  - on a Thursday, no less - when I was at the soccer field and my husband was away for his job in New York!  I called the credit card company in a panic and canceled the card on the spot.  Then, I called my husband at work and told him the whole story to which he said, "Oh yeah.  I can't talk now - there's an emergency that just came up."

"I'm not going there," I plainly stated to my friends when they suggested we celebrate my birthday at the very same establishment that allegedly made a fraudulent charge on my now canceled card.  "Maybe the identity thief is in there now," I thought aloud as we approached the front door of the very place I said I wasn't interested in going.  Oh, the "identity thief" was there alright.  (Have you figured it out yet? Because there was a point when my stomach literally dropped as it all clicked in my head.)

That awkward moment when ... you realize that you had canceled your own surprise party.  When the hostess told us to head to the private party room upstairs, I froze.  What I had I done? There, at the top of the steps, was a crowd of people I knew very well and they were all yelling, "Surprise!"  And, there was my "identity thief" looking nothing like the character played by Melissa McCarthy.  "Are you surprised?" my husband greeted me.  "It was you?"  I asked.  "You charged our credit card with this party when you know I take care of the bills?"

"You idiot!" I yelled completely dropping the ball on what should have been words of gratitude.  Of course, I recovered quickly by apologizing for such an outburst and by covering with many, many kinder words of love.  In the end, the party was a great success.  And, I was a bit of a celebrity as everyone from the manager to the waitstaff came out to meet the woman "who canceled her own party".

Here I am capturing my "Identity thief"!

Like I said in the beginning, "This would be a really funny story if it wasn't about me."

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Do it!

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