This last Tuesday was moving day for my son Simon. The night before we stayed up late packing up all the dregs of his life for the past couple years where he has been living so that he could move into a new place. The heavy lifters were coming, the truck and trailer were available and the crockpot of hot dogs that would be the reward at the end of the day were waiting in the fridge to get plugged in in the morning.
And then, the snow came.
No, let me re-phrase that: the blizzard swept in and laid waste to all of our best-laid plans.
When I woke up that morning and looked out the window, my first thought was: YUCK. The second thought was: I wonder if Simon would be okay with me ditching him today? (Well, not really, but I certainly wasn’t excited about moving in a snowstorm.)
And then the voice of reason kicked in via a flurry of texts from my husband Rick, Simon’s concerned dad, who was already on the slow road to work that morning. Basically, the message was: Abort! Abort! And, so to speak, we did. At least, we scrapped Plan A. The heavy lifters were relieved to be relieved and instead, Simon and I made several slow trips with my car to go pick up the keys, meet with the internet guy and move the most important things that could fit in the car: the bed (thank you, IKEA for facilitating take-apart beds), the television and, of course, the crock-pot of hot dogs.
If you think about it, things rarely go According to Plan. As I look back, I’m almost surprised at where life has tossed me. Sometimes, I’ve nailed the 3-point landing, other times I’ve completely muffed it. Usually the messes happen when I resist the change of plans, whether I just decide to ignore the weather and carry-on indiscriminately or if I choose a less-than-sunny disposition.
Not that it’s easy to always put on a happy face. Simon and his girlfriend/new-roommate were sorely disappointed first thing in the morning when they realized that things would not be progressing the way we had all hoped. But at the end of the day, while eating our hot dog supper, the smiles abounded because everyone arrived after all, in the good and proper time. And I was happy to leave them to set up house and home and make a plan for my next day.
Which would most likely change when I got there.