Plans !

It has happened often enough: I have plans for the day; I have an idea of what needs to be done, where I need to go etc. And then it is six hours later and I wonder where my “plans” shifted and why. My plan this day included cooking, getting the dogs out for a ride in the car, doing some minor shopping, and going to the YMCA for a swim. It’s an overcast rainy day; not suitable for outdoor activities.

Around 9:30 a.m., after about a year of procrastination, I just felt it was the right time to re-organize the sheets shelf in the linen closet. I knew it wasn’t a huge job; I just hadn’t felt the urge to do it until now. A stab of guilt would surface when I opened the closet door as I picked a clean set of sheets, and closed the door again.

But this morning, it felt right, to tackle this job. I was looking specifically for certain pillow cases I thought were in there. Somewhere. The laundry basket served as a temporary holding space as I pulled linens out, or re-arranged on the shelf.

I never found those pillowcases but everything else went back on the shelf, in more tidy piles, and a few really old (?about 40 years) pillow cases bit the dust, or headed for the washing machine.

It’s what happened during those six hours that wasn’t on the “schedule” that made it interesting. I was barely showered and half dressed at 10:40 a.m. when the phone rang. Had I followed “the plan”, this was a call I would not have answered in person, and we know the let down of not reaching our target person when needed most. It’s why people have cell phones. I have an “old fashioned” flip phone which is rarely turned on: I still like my uninterrupted personal space, especially when I am driving or with company. Catching me at home is the best bet.

As the call unraveled a remarkable story, I realized that was why I never left the house this morning. I needed to be here for that call.

And so it is, that the “best laid plans” go astray and develop into the best reasons for that straying. Chances are, we never anticipated the denouement.