When things don’t go according to plan…

Does anyone else out there absolutely HATE it when things don’t go according to plan?  I am a planner. I just love writing out my list, scheduling when I’m going to do things and checking them off.

But dang, does it drive me crazy when things don’t go according to plan.

I recently had a day where nothing went according to plan.  In fact, it was supposed to be a super productive day. For the first time in months I had Sean scheduled for “Lunch Bunch” so he could stay at school until 2. (This is a HUGE deal for me because I typically get about 2 hours of work time in a day 4 days a week kid-free). I was so excited to have a solid five hours to first get my half-marathon training run in and then tackle that ever growing “to-do” list.

After rushing around like a madwoman getting everybody ready for school, packing lunches, packing snow gear, getting my cold weather running gear on and shoveling the driveway, we were just heading out the door when I received a text message from Sean’s school saying the heat wasn’t working so school was canceled for the day.  Whomp whomp. There goes my plan, out the freaking window. Has that ever happened to you?

Sean was sad and quite honestly, so was I.  After dropping Andrew off at school and heading to Staples, you know, for the fourth time this week to buy ink, I changed my mindset.  Was I bummed that I was going to miss a training run?  Yep. The whole point of running a half-marathon for me was the training schedule so that I would hold myself accountable to the workouts.  But you know what, the next day was supposed to be a rest day, so what if I just switch it and run the next day? Okay, that problem was solved.  And what about that “to-do” list? Nothing on that list was time-sensitive, but it was all important. Well, after a quick text to his school, I was able to get Sean scheduled for Lunch Bunch for the next day so I could tackle everything on my list. Boom.  I was feeling better already!

Now what?  A free and clear schedule to do whatever I wanted!  Ahhh, the bliss of being your own boss and being in charge of your own schedule!  Sean was supposed to get some ski practice in and I was planning to take him later in the week.  So, do you know what I decided to do? I asked my friend Megan, who has a little girl Sean’s age, if she wanted to take the kids skiing.  Sean had been asking me all morning if he could play with her daughter, Collette, so I thought it would be nice to set up a play date for him.  And with our closest mountain being only 10 minutes away (that’s the beauty of living in the Adirondack Region – whoa, look at me embracing this place) it would be easy to take the kids for an hour or two.  Two birds, one stone. Boom. This day was turning right around!

It turns out that the mountain didn’t open until 3:00 that day, so we took the kids to the park for some practice.  And do you know what? It was the perfect spot and we didn’t have to pay for a lift ticket! #momwin! They had a blast!  I may have slipped on the ice and let him faceplant into the snow, #momfail, but otherwise he was skiing like a tiny little champ!

Afterwards I treated Sean to his favorite, Dunkin Donuts, and went home to finish shoveling the deck and the patio.  Since I had the day free, I treated myself to my guilty pleasure, a hot bath with some lavender Epsom salts and a couple of Harry Potter chapters while Sean watched a movie.  I deserved it after all of that shoveling and carrying him up the hill after each ski run!  Looks like I got a workout in after all.

After soothing my aching muscles and relaxing my mind, Sean hit me with his favorite words.  “Mommy, come and snuggle me.” I can’t count how many times I have told him, “not right now, buddy, Mama has to get some things done,” or some variation of that statement.  But today was different. For the rest of the afternoon until we had to pick up Andrew from school we snuggled on the couch. And do you know what he said to me? “Mommy, I love this day.  It’s the best.” Be still my heart! I can get that list of things done later. I can go on that training run tomorrow. But my little guy will only be little for so long.

Have you had days like this?  Where you had a plan and then school is canceled or a kid is sick?  It’s ok to be sad and frustrated for a moment, girlfriend. But then, change your mindset, re-think your plan for the day and see how you can find joy and the blessings that are there right in front of you.  And in case nobody has told you this lately, you’re amazing at doing all of the things!