A Bad Mommy Moment

Today I was in Sam's Club getting an eye exam when my cell phone rang. The opthamalogist said, "Is that your phone? You can answer it, we're finished." I was too late and missed the call. It showed up as Unavailable. I thought it was Tom calling from work. About five minutes later my phone rang again. I answered it this time and a female voice said, "Hi." It sounded like Abby so I said, "Hi" back and waited for her to state her business. There was silence. So I said, "You called me, right? What do you need?" The person on the other end said, "Um..." Then I thought, "Abby must have gone out to run errands, wrecked the car and is afraid to tell me." So I said, "Are you okay? Why did you call?" And she says, "I called to arrange our Christmas phone call?" Then it dawns on me. I AM TALKING TO ELLEN! I was mortified. She must have been wondering who the alien on the other end was who didn't get all excited when she said hello. In their mission they are allowed to call the week of Christmas to arrange the Christmas Day phone call. That's all we were permited to talk about, but I'll get to talk to her again on Saturday. I apologized profusely for being so thick. I couldn't figure out why Abby said "hi" and nothing else. When I got home I told Abby the story. She laughed, then realized that Ellen had called home first and she had missed the call. Oh well, Christmas is only 5 days away.