“Mommy, Thanks for the Food Money….”

Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Ebb and Flow.

According to Dane Cook’s character in Employee of the Month, the Universe has a plan. Okay, so the movie wasn’t big on profound  snippets, but it had a few, the best being his grandmother’s  advice on  kissing the girl. The movie was quite predictable but fun nevertheless, and of course, Dane Cook is easy on the eyes and has that physique I like. But then, I guess it was part of the Universe’s plan that I saw it tonight instead of last night.

Last night, I’d finally gotten a chance to take a break and catch the late showing while the girls had the weekend with their  dad, but I  didn’t.  I had the feeling  last night that there was some reason I wasn’t  supposed  to see it then.

So today, I stuck to my agenda until almost dark and decided to take a break for something light, fun, and well- deserved. I headed  to the  Destin Commons, bought  a ticket  for  Employee  of the Month, and  ran  into  both  my daughters,  Shannon’s   boyfriend,   and  Aislinn’s  friend. They were a bit on the frantic side. And very hungry.

As it turns out, my ex had dropped them there a few hours before,  had bought them movie tickets and gave them enough cash for burgers and shakes. Except that he drove off with the  tickets and instructions  to  call him when the movie was over.

They had frantically dialed his cell phone while they watched him  drive  away  in the parking lot. They  tried again and again as his car left  the lot and drove farther and farther away. After an hour, they realized he  wasn’t coming back and the show might be sold out, so they spent their food money on a second set of tickets.

Fortunately, Shannon had eaten cereal before leaving her dad’s for the evening, since she gets very shaky with- out food.  Her  boyfriend  hadn’t  eaten.  Aislinn  and her friend were…well, I think glum is the best word. She had enough change on her for a snack, or either her friend bought it—but the theatre manager took it away before I knew about it.

I gave Shannon some food money and made sure her boyfriend got something and didn’t get it taken away by the theatre manager,  then saw  the movie with the four teens and shared my snacks with them.

“Mommy,” Shannon said, “thanks for the money for food.”

So I guess the Universe  did have a plan. And my ex probably has around 42 missed calls on his cell phone.