Are you guys trying to scare me?

The day was May 29, 2021. It was the day I was the most awkward of all. The time: about 11:00am.

I was back in Wisconsin to celebrate some things. My dear sister and brother-in-law had just succumbed to my second request that weekend to get Thai tea. I can’t get enough of that stuff, and I will never get sick of it, and I will not apologize. I was rocking the back seat like a proper adult, cruising the streets with the windows down, sipping my tea, wind blowing through my hair, feeling free. We made a stop at the Home Depot for some cleaning supplies of the heavy-duty sort. The kind you can’t get just anywhere, you know.

I don’t know why, but I told them I’d wait in the car. I wanted to enjoy my Thai tea and the beauty of a warm, Wisconsin day from the comfort of the back seat. I rolled the window down so I didn’t suffocate. So there I was, scrolling, sipping, disengaged in my surroundings, when I heard what I perceived to be quiet voices making a plan near the car. It had been about 15 minutes, and that felt like enough time for my sister and BIL to finish their shopping. So naturally, I yell out the window:

“ARE YOU GUYS TRYING TO SCARE ME?!”

Except…it wasn’t my sister and BIL. It was a couple getting out of the car next to me who were clearly not on the same page and who I had mistaken to be my sister and her husband making a plan to sneak up on me and scare me. (I actually envisioned them already to be crouching next to the car and I DO NOT like to be scared so I felt I must make it known that I knew what they were up to. But again, I had been mistaken.)

As soon as I realized this, I shrunk down quickly in my seat, trying to melt myself into the fabric of the car so as to not be seen. I mean, I had YELLED. And that couple was definitely NOT trying to scare me, but rather deal with their own miscommunicated expectations. I’m certain they heard me but I disappeared right quick, so I’m not quite sure how the rest played out. The worst part of it all was that I had to sit there in silence with my story for another 15 minutes while I waited, in the backseat of the car with my window down, to share of the mistaken scare tactic that wasn’t real.

Not a lot makes me feel awkward. But this did.

Below is a visual representation of how I felt choosing to stay in the back of the car while avoiding shopping for cleaning supplies (SCHRAA wearing the “3”) vs. how I felt when I realized I had called out in error (little SCHRAA).