Dear Queenie,
Last July my daughter and her husband told us they were going to have a big party for us to celebrate my wife’s 75th birthday just before Valentine’s Day. After that we never heard anything about it again. Then the day of the event we called them to ask what time we should plan to arrive, and they told us something had come up and they weren’t going to have a party after all.
Queenie, shouldn’t they have told us sooner than that so we could have made other plans?—Disappointed Dad
Dear Dad,
Yes, of course, they should not have waited until the last minute to tell you about a change of plans. However, it is possible that they simply had forgotten about their promise, or that they had some last-minute emergency.
It might have helped them remember if you had mentioned to them occasionally over the months how much you were looking forward to the party. On the other hand, if it was a last-minute emergency they should have given you a little more detail than just “something has come up”.
