Today's our wedding anniversary.
For weeks now we have been looking forward to our 30th wedding anniversary. Two weeks ago we settled on a plan to celebrate it. Instead of spending money to go to a resort or to do something "memorable" we would spend time instead - time on each other. I would take time off work and we'd do things together - listen to the music we liked in the car - go watch the waves at the local seaside park, maybe take a walk in the woods if it was sunny, the point being spending time together. I took the time off in advance at work.
Then an unexpected medical appointment turned it all around and last Friday, I found myself cancelling the planned day off and postponing it until the following day to coincide with another appointment. We even postponed our anniversary celebration - doctor's orders being for hubby to fast for a procedure.
I had forgotten until first thing this morning that (given my initial plan to take the day off) I had made plans to meet someone this morning to discuss some preparations for a new meeting room for a group I attend. Plus, my oldest daughter was not feeling well, so I decided to take a few hours off to take care of her and to fit in my meeting (sigh - this means I'll have to amend my leave requests. Again.) When I got to the meeting, the person wasn't there - a family emergency had made it necessary for her to be elsewhere - and nobody there knew anything about me coming. So I came back home - resigning myself to change my plans - yet again! (Have I mentioned yet that I have a difficult time with changing plans?)
Then in preparation for tomorrow's medical procedure, I was going through the itinerary and so forth when the phone rang. It was the dentist's office. They wanted to know if hubby wanted to take advantage of a cancellation and come in early (before his planned teeth cleaning) ... he said no, this wasn't a good time. Both of us wanted to clear the calendar and get this medical thing over with.
Not two minutes later, the phone rang again. It was the medical secretary of the doctor who would be doing the procedure. "Doctor ___ has the flu and won't be able to be there tomorrow morning. I'll call you to set up a new date."
Huh. (Arrrgh!) My mind was racing with all the forms I'd have to fill out changing the type of leave for tomorrow, etc. Secretly I was pretty miffed that the doctor would have the gall to up and be sick when we'd never again see our 30th wedding anniversary...and we'd already changed our plans to fit HIS schedule!!
It was our youngest daughter who snapped me out of it - thank God!
She said, "So. I guess now you can eat - and have your anniversary dinner ON your anniversary!"
My natural tendency to "lock in" to a certain course of events and be frustrated when (I repeat, WHEN) they don't play out as planned...has been the source of much unhappiness in my life. I was starting to go down that road again - and when my daughter chimed in with her "look-at-the-bright-side" comment, I realized what was happening and quickly unlocked.
The lifestyle of living in this 24-hour period sounds simple but sometimes it just ...isn't. It's less stressful when I live in today. It takes work to remember not to live life automatically but to live intentionally.
(Sigh) The phone just rang again. The procedure is back on - guess the doctor is feeling better.
Oh well. At least I won't have to change my leave request.
For weeks now we have been looking forward to our 30th wedding anniversary. Two weeks ago we settled on a plan to celebrate it. Instead of spending money to go to a resort or to do something "memorable" we would spend time instead - time on each other. I would take time off work and we'd do things together - listen to the music we liked in the car - go watch the waves at the local seaside park, maybe take a walk in the woods if it was sunny, the point being spending time together. I took the time off in advance at work.
Then an unexpected medical appointment turned it all around and last Friday, I found myself cancelling the planned day off and postponing it until the following day to coincide with another appointment. We even postponed our anniversary celebration - doctor's orders being for hubby to fast for a procedure.
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| "The best-laid plans o' Mice and Men gang aft a-gley" - Robert Burns photosource: http://lucysclone.blogspot.com/2010/01/mouse-in-my-pocket.html |
Then in preparation for tomorrow's medical procedure, I was going through the itinerary and so forth when the phone rang. It was the dentist's office. They wanted to know if hubby wanted to take advantage of a cancellation and come in early (before his planned teeth cleaning) ... he said no, this wasn't a good time. Both of us wanted to clear the calendar and get this medical thing over with.
Not two minutes later, the phone rang again. It was the medical secretary of the doctor who would be doing the procedure. "Doctor ___ has the flu and won't be able to be there tomorrow morning. I'll call you to set up a new date."
Huh. (Arrrgh!) My mind was racing with all the forms I'd have to fill out changing the type of leave for tomorrow, etc. Secretly I was pretty miffed that the doctor would have the gall to up and be sick when we'd never again see our 30th wedding anniversary...and we'd already changed our plans to fit HIS schedule!!
It was our youngest daughter who snapped me out of it - thank God!
She said, "So. I guess now you can eat - and have your anniversary dinner ON your anniversary!"
My natural tendency to "lock in" to a certain course of events and be frustrated when (I repeat, WHEN) they don't play out as planned...has been the source of much unhappiness in my life. I was starting to go down that road again - and when my daughter chimed in with her "look-at-the-bright-side" comment, I realized what was happening and quickly unlocked.
The lifestyle of living in this 24-hour period sounds simple but sometimes it just ...isn't. It's less stressful when I live in today. It takes work to remember not to live life automatically but to live intentionally.
(Sigh) The phone just rang again. The procedure is back on - guess the doctor is feeling better.
Oh well. At least I won't have to change my leave request.
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