I think I pissed off the Pope.

Sorry if my title is a bit offensive here, but I really do feel like if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any. Have you ever had a day where you felt like the whole world just refused to give you a break? Every slow car was in front of you and the red lights just don't stop. Well that was our day. As you know, Carlos and I have been making plans all week for Philip's birthday. So, we both got out of work around noon and met at home. We loaded up the car with the cake and the balloons. The plan was to go to the cemetery, spend some time with Philip, then come home for a bit before meeting our friends for dinner and a movie. The plan was that although emotional, the afternoon was going to be pleasant and the evening relaxing. Our day would not be all tears, but laughs and smiles as well. So, we headed out, which is the point where our luck ran out.
When we arrived at the cemetery, not only was Philip's marker not up like we were promised, but there was a funeral going on at the mausoleum. I mean really, how dare someone have their service on our day! Kidding, of course. Since we had to wait for the service to end, we decided to go by the office and inquire about our MIA marker. Pete (his name has not been changed because I don't really care about his identity) said that because of the service, they had to wait to install the marker. By this point it is around 1:30 and Carlos and I have both gone without lunch. So...we go to have some lunch in hopes that the marker would be installed while we were gone. An hour later, we returned to the cemetery only to find the workers just pulling up to start work on installing the marker. By this point both Carlos and I are pretty upset. This was supposed to be done by noon, not just being started at 2:30. Carlos' office had some issues with their payroll this morning, so we needed to go by his work and pick up his check anyway...so we decided this would be a good time. Across town we headed. After picking up his check, going by the bank, and stopping by our house (the baby was jumping on my bladder), we headed back to the cemetery. We were scheduled to meet our friends for dinner at 6, and we finally returned to the cemetery at 5. Not the long afternoon with our son we had planned, but we were willing to settle for whatever this day would give us. So we got out of the car, marker in sight. As we got closer though, we realized that something was wrong. The marker had been glued to a piece of marble that was 2 inches shorter than the opening of the crypt.

This day just would not let up or end. We decided to ignore the defect and spend our time with Philip. We cried and talked and read letters to our son that we had written. We lit a candle and sang happy birthday. We each ate some cake and released his balloons. It was a celebration through tears. It was as perfect as it could be. Afterward, I made Carlos drive to the restaurant before calling Pete. I was hoping the short drive would help to calm him. It didn't. Pete made excuse after excuse, promising to replace the ruined marker with a new one ASAP. We could have anything we want free of charge. You see, the workers attached the marker to the wrong size marble slab. And, once attached, you can not unattach. Basically, the marker can not be used again, so they have to make a new one from scratch. Like this was their first rodeo? Like they just opened the cemetery yesterday? Like these guys don't do this everyday? I mean really, could my luck be any worse?

Do you see the space at the top of his white marble in the picture above? If the inside lip did not come down so far, we could have see right into the crypt. In the end, we made an appt. with Pete for Sunday. They are going to give us whatever we want and in return I want the ruined marker. I mean, they can't use it and I refuse to allow them to trash it. It is my son's and therefore, it is mine.

BTW- dinner was lovely and 10,000BC the movie wasn't to bad either. I expected a bit more action out of the movie, but the love story was nice too. I just wish the middle of the day could have been as enjoyable as the end. Oh well, I guess there is always next year. I sign-off exhausted and hopeful that next year someone (hey, that means you God) cuts me a little slack.