Tangled Web

     "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." I am a terrible liar. I do not mean I am a terrible person because I lie. I mean I am terrible at lying. For one thing, lying requires a way better memory than I have. Keeping track of things that actually happen is hard enough without adding things that didn't. So my recent experience with deception was a good reminder of why I don't lie.
     It began, like the the road to hell, with good intentions. When my daughter told me the baby shower for my first grandchild would be the same weekend as a ladies tea at church, I was relieved. Seven years earlier, those same good intentions put me on the planning committee for the church tea. I found myself helping out at the first tea because I felt sorry for the planner, who was trying to do the whole activity solo. Good intention--help her organize and simplify. But she is the kind of person who does not want to be simplified. She is the kind who has great, last-minute ideas and wants last-minute volunteers to help make them happen. The other thing about her great ideas, is that she tells you they are your ideas. And you are now responsible for carrying them out. So it was with great relief that I bowed out of this year's tea to attend the baby shower in Helena. Good intention--no hurt feelings.
     Then the date changed. If I told Last Minute Lucy that I would be in town, I would either have to make "my" unwanted-stepchild-of-an-idea happen, or I would have to tell Lucy why I didn't want to serve with her. OR I could just not tell her that I wouldn't be out of town. It was cowardly. It was deceptive. It was easy. All I had to do was skip the tea and not mention the shower until after the original date. Then came the tangled web. This year's tea was part of our mission's conference, which I would have attended, but couldn't because I was supposed to be out of town. I could have gone to Missoula on Saturday to make the part about being out of town true, but I had just been there for an appointment on Thursday. I skipped a mission's conference to support my deception. By all rights the Lord should smite me. And I should be easy to find. I'm right here--tangled in this web.