I’m not a suspicious person by nature.  It makes me really easy to trick and surprise.  Today would fall into the second category. 

There are certain people who have been a consistent part of my life since my parents moved to Colorado eight years ago.  Even though I haven’t spent much time here, I’ve heard about their families and businesses and everything else for years.  I feel like they’re a weird part of my extended family that I only see at Christmas parties. 

When I got a phone call from one of those people a few days ago to see what I was up to while I’m in town, it seemed pretty innocent.  The conversation ended and I forgot all about it. 

Flash forward to today, and things were still moving along as expected.  I went through some old boxes with my mom this morning and discovered a notebook from when I was about eleven.  There are very neat columns near the front of the notebook with my budget for a couple of years.  One column is labeled “Proposed Budget,” and the other is labeled “Expenditures.”  I went into a lot of detail for someone who wasn’t responsible for any bills.

After rediscovering that my inner dork was alive and well all those years ago, I went into town for lunch with my grandmother and a tour of my dad’s new-ish company/production facility.  I was learning about angles and collection of solar power when my phone rang.  I picked up, because that’s what I do.  I’m not a careful call screener.  And who was it on the phone but the grandson of the lady who wanted to know my schedule a few days ago.  The grandson I’ve been told I should meet for years. 

It seems that his grandmother threatened him with no more baked goods or something if he didn’t call me, so call he did.  (I would respond to that threat, too.  She makes these candied grapefruit peels every Christmas that I can’t get enough of.  Literally.  They don’t last long at the house.) 

The point of the story is that next time someone wants to know what you’re doing at a specific time and doesn’t immediately tell you why that information is important, be suspicious.  If that someone hasn’t cared about your exact whereabouts at any point in the past, be particularly suspicious.

The good news?  I had a good bowling night.  Hello, 138.  And despite the awkwardness of having someone’s grandmother force him to meet you, it was nice to talk to someone my own age in town. 

So the day wasn’t what I expected.  That’s okay.  I didn’t expect to see a 3-D printer today either, and that was pretty cool.