sigh.

I like long drives.  I like going to the States (for the cheap gas, among 
other things!).  I like keeping as much of my toe in the movie-discussion 
world as possible, now that I'm a full-time stay-at-home dad.

So, imagine my delight when I got a call yesterday from someone in Seattle 
who was desperately looking for someone to pinch-hit for another 
film-critic type who had just cancelled on them.  They were planning an 
event for Monday night, and was I available, etc., etc.

The actual conversation took place over Skype, and lasted nearly half an 
hour.  I had my three-year-old sleeping heavily on one of my arms, and one 
of my five-year-olds occasionally poking his head over my shoulder to see 
who I was talking to.  (The other five-year-old was out with one of her 
grandmothers.)  It was mentioned, briefly, that the Seattle people had 
also tried to contact another Canadian movie type -- someone who was 
brought into this circle of people over a year ago partly on my 
recommendation, as it happens -- and it was mentioned, briefly, that the 
person who gave the Seattle people my number (and the other person's 
number) had told them that I was the best person for the job because of my 
"encyclopedic" knowledge of film, but that I might be "burdened" (I think 
that was the word) with family duties.  But, with my boys pressed up 
against me, I assured the Seattle person that I was game for this and it 
was all just a question of getting a babysitter for Monday afternoon (I'd 
have to leave around 3pm, and the wife gets home from work at 6pm; 
incidentally, under the work schedule that she had until April, she would 
have had May 16 off because she used to get every other Monday off, but 
since the beginning of May, she has been getting every other Friday off 
instead; so, until very recently, it would have been very possible to just 
leave home at 3pm and leave the kids with the wife; but I digress).

So.  Anyway.  As soon as the Skype conversation was over, I called my 
mother to see if she could fill in for a few hours on Monday.  She said 
maybe, but she was busy and would call me back in a couple hours to 
discuss it.  (And she did, in fact, call me back a couple hours later.)

And then, only a few minutes later -- only, maybe, 15 minutes or so after 
the Skype conversation ended -- I got a text message from the Seattle 
people telling me that the other Canadian had gotten back to them and 
would be coming down to pinch-hit instead.  So, I didn't need to come.

So, sigh.  No long drive.  No trip to the States.  No keeping my toe in 
the movie-discussion world for this one night.

And all, quite possibly, because of the family "burden".

So there was a cloud over the second half of the day that simply wasn't 
even on my horizon during the first half of the day.

(Ironically, the focus of the movie discussion on Monday is going to be 
about family and how films depict family, etc.)

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