Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Life happens

I am learning a lot this month that life just happens. It doesn't give me a call, a notification, or even a calendar edit to make sure that my plans coincide with it. No. Instead, it just happens and whatever the plans are that I had -- well, I have to hope they weren't important. 

This makes me think of that cartoon character holding too many items, stacked three feet in the air, swaying to the right ... so as the character runs right, the items sway left... so the character runs to the left to catch them.. then they sway right and, well, you get the idea. Eventually the items win as they crash the floor. 

Yep. That is me with my plans. 

Here is how Valentine's week went in my house. Mondays are my busiest days by far. I have a ton of deadlines for a particular client on Mondays and my time is scarce. So, I decided that I was going knock out that work early since I had a meeting at the school. Then, on Tuesday, I would do my Valentine's Day shopping. I had the perfect idea of what I wanted to buy my Valentine -- and I thought I'd get a couple little things for those people who mean so much to me. 

By the time I got home from the meeting on Monday, Damian -- the 8yr old -- had thrown up. This continued throughout the night. 

I began stressing, as I still had to go shopping on Tuesday. How on earth was I supposed to do that with a sick kid? Tuesday morning rolls around and BOTH kids are sick. [Chuck any hope of following through on plans straight out the window]

That is ok. No biggie. I can just go in the evening once Tina gets home, right? Wrong. By the time she got home, the boys were so dehydrated from being unable to keep anything down all day that the pediatrician asked us to take them both to the ER. 

Fast forward a few more hours and an IV with fluids later (along with a negative flu test, I should add) and we were heading home. Stores were closed and I was spent.

And, of course the boys were not going to school the next day -- Valentines day. 

In the end, however, it all worked out and I was able to compromise with myself. I just had to take a moment to gain perspective on all that happened. There would have been a time years ago when I would kick and fight and scream because things did not go the way they should have. Not because I couldn't have my way, but because I liked to have a plan and anything that deviated from that plan would send me into a frenzy because I no longer had it all together.

I reflected on how much I had grown -- especially since it is not just me anymore, but all of these other parts, too. 

And, sure, this could call be about putting the kids first, the dangers of germs, the insignificance of store-bought Valentine's Day gifts, and the fact that God makes our plan - not us. But here is the biggest lesson learned throughout this whole ordeal: Use pencil on the calendar. It really is that simple. 























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