A matinee, a cocktail and an apology

Last Sunday our movie group had our summer outing. We saw Double Indemnity on the big, big screen at the multiplex. Because they had a bar, I took a Cosmo into the theater. Fred MacMurray's character, Walter Kneff, would have wanted me to.

Afterward I was going to head to the office to finish up a little in-office brochure. Between jury duty and Long Tall Sally's blabbing, I was behind on The Big Project. But Joanna, my best movie group bud, convinced me to stop for just one drink so we classic movie lovers could discuss Double Indemnity.

I didn't have a second drink. I still had to go back to work. But Joanna did (or maybe it was her first). At any rate, I've never been around her when liquor was involved. Good God, but it loosened her tongue! I couldn't finish a sentence without her interrupting ... or disagreeing ... or just hijacking the conversation.

I found myself snapping at her. I was brusque and sarcastic. When I got to the Sunday-silent office, I felt terrible. She's a warm and smart woman and didn't deserve that. Especially not when you consider that the topics we'd been discussing were Marilyn Monroe's oeuvre and whether there were five Marx Bros. or six.

So I shot her an email, apologizing and trying to explain how raw I felt after such a rough week. She was very gracious, telling me to forget about it because she intended to.

I'm grateful she was so understanding.