Oh, I had them. I had those plans. Remember my New Year’s Resolutions? Well.
I was in good shape this week. I was On The Ball. The calendar had the required appointments, and I was so proud of myself: I was taking responsibility off Bill to (finally) get the van repaired and inspected, and I had an appointment (long overdue) to get the cat to the vet for a check-up. I had scheduled these appointments on separate days (the Queen of Optimism, I have a tendency to plan Too Much in one day sometimes, thereby Exhausting Myself); I had had to cancel them from last week, but dutifully rescheduled. This week we were going to make it happen.
I also had the meals well in hand. Remember what I said about planning them, and shopping in advance, and whatnot? Well, not only did I have the meals planned, but I had a plan for planning the meals. It goes like this:
In every week, we’ll have fish one night (it is So Good For You, and we all like it), vegetarian one night, pizza-tacos-sloppy joes-something easy one night, and a meal from The Joy of Cooking one night (I’m trying to expand my repertoire). It’s likely, too, that we’ll have leftovers another night, making that only– really– two meals that I have to think hard for. Not bad, right? A good plan. I think so.
I didn’t make it to the grocery store on Monday, but Monday was a holiday, and we spent our morning at Krispy Kreme like any decent person should, and this made a trip to the grocery store seem both Irrelevant (who wants to eat Ever Again?) and Unappealing (like I said…). But still, I had the plan.
I was also, on Monday, looking forward to Wednesday evening, the first class meeting of my final semester at Duke. I was looking forward to this before Monday. I was looking forward to this in November of 2004 when my professor first announced he would offer it, and I was thrilled when, last October, the Spring 2006 catalogue came out and I saw that I would be able to have this Favorite Professor one last time.
So I was Eager, this week, for this class– this last one– to commence. I was Looking Forward To It.
But you can feel it coming, can’t you?
First, let me just say that Other Things Came Up. I won’t say what they are (not wanting to be coy, sorry), but suffice it to say that these Other Things required immediate attention and a Change of Plan. They required me to be in places that I had not figured on being this week, and I didn’t mind it at all, but I definitely had to Change My Plans. Otherwise the week would have been insane (it nearly was), and we can’t have that.
I cancelled the appointments for the car and the cat. I have not rescheduled them.
As for the meals, well, those didn’t go over either, and this because Emma Grace and Bill contracted, separately, two kinds of horrible stomach ailments, making cooking anything interesting a complete Waste of Time.
And my class? Well, I logged on to my Duke e-mail Wednesday afternoon– just checking in, just being responsibile, just looking for any last-minute updates. I had not checked my Duke e-mail since before Christmas; why would I? We were on break, and class did not start until Wednesday, January 18th.
But when I checked my e-mail– Behold the Horror: My favorite professor, the one whose class I had so looked forward to, decided to start our class One Week Early. He had held class, unbeknownst to and unattended by me, on Wednesday, January 11th.
I had missed the first class, the opening lecture, the one in which he lays out the Plan and Design of the entire course.
I was bitterly disappointed.
And you know? You can start class one week late, if you want to. But you can’t start it Early. No you can’t. You really really can’t.
But I asked at the program office if anyone else had made my Very Understandable mistake, my not-checking-email-mistake, and I was told: No, no. You were the Only One who missed the class.
Isn’t that nice?
So the week, while crazy but survivable, was Other than what I had planned. And it makes me wonder, it really does: is all my planning worth it? Or should I just go back to the Old Ways, and fly by the seat of my pants? Or is there Something Else at work here, Something Else that I must yield to and accept, remembering that my efforts at organization are only that: efforts?
There’s Peace in that last thought, you know. There Really Is.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
