More Drama from My Mama

I ruined my mother's birthday dinner by refusing to attend after an especially ridiculous episode wherein she walked up to the bank...again.

My mother and I spoke yesterday morning around 10 or 11am, can't remember, but it doesn't matter because at no point during that conversation did she mention that she needed to go to the bank.  Once a week now, she goes to the bank to withdraw money that she doesn't spend because I spend my husband's money and my aunt spends her unemployment whenever we go out.  When I spoke to my mother, I told her to expect me that afternoon since I was at home with the plumber.  She told me that she and my aunt had plans to go out, so I called my aunt to tell her that the entire family had dinner plans that night and to invite her to tag along.

Fast forward two hours after I left messages for my aunt, my mother and my father.  I got a call from my aunt informing me that my mother was not at home and that she had been outside waiting for a while and had to use the bathroom.  I stopped what I was doing, made a quick pit stop, grabbed my keys and headed over to my parents' house.  I suspected that my mother had walked up to the bank again, but I drove like a bat out of hell anyway because of this lingering fear that one day, she might have another destination in mind...

I get a call when I am about to reach my exit from my aunt, and of course the connection is bad.  I presume that all is well but since I am now on their side of town, I have to go by the house.  I call my aunt again and she tells me that my mother is at home, so when I arrive at the house, I let myself in and am greeted by my aunt and my mother's angry face from the kitchen.

I guess she thought I was over-reacting because she was just fine and in the kitchen cooking dinner even though we just spoke about the dinner plans for the evening a few hours earlier.  Actually, she does not say anything about the fact that I am out of breath, stinky from not having taken a shower yet, but she does snap that she knows where her cell phone is when I ask.  My aunt plays interference and it occurs to me that I am far from calm even though I am trying to maintain my cool.  After a few more snarky responses to my questions, I decide to leave (although I did make it clear that I was leaving to avoid having an aneurysm).  Once I am back in my car, I call the husband and declare that I will not attend my mother's birthday dinner that evening.

And that is how I ruined her birthday.