Curveballs

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.  Proverbs 27:1

It is World Series time, a good opportunity to write about curveballs.  Except that I know nothing about baseball or how a curveball is created much less why it is important.  I do know that life sometimes throws me curveballs, catching me off guard.  Maybe if I watched more baseball, I would expect them.  Unfortunately, I am a planner and I don’t plan for curveballs.  I plan for how I will spend my time doing the things I love, writing, reading, sewing and some of the things I don’t, cleaning, cooking, changing the sheets on the bed.    I plan vacations and doctor’s appointments a year in advance.  Usually, my calendar is so full, I have little time for spontaneity.    But, last weekend was an exception.  I know November will be here soon.  What last year was Slowvenmber is now a very full month.  I have a book talk and three book sales, plus hand surgery and Thanksgiving dinner on the calendar, so remarkably, planned to do nothing last weekend.  (Is it crazy that I have to plan to do nothing?)   The empty calendar allowed me to say yes to lunch with a friend on Saturday and dinner with a dear family on Sunday.  After I would spend the whole day writing, reading or playing with the dogs, of course.    Only I didn’t get to Sunday.  My mom fell on Saturday, ended up in the hospital with two cracks in her pelvis, and Sunday was spent in the emergency room.  I didn’t plan for that.  Ain’t no one got time for that.  (I am sure my mom feels the same way!)   Monday came, and I felt like I had to go to work for leadership meetings where we were to make decisions about the future of our office.  The calendar was full.  Too full for curveballs.  My dad had a medical procedure and so did Glen.  My mom needed someone to be an advocate for her at the hospital.  Thankfully, my sister took a day off work to sit with my mom, my dad took a nap after his procedure and Glen drove himself home with a gaping wound in his neck.    I made my choice, but felt pulled between four places.  As I sat planning for the future of the work that I spent a lifetime creating, one that will be vested in someone else in a few years, my family was in need.  Ironic.  I felt good about the work we did and the plans we made, like we hit it out of the park, but all the while, the curveballs hovered before me.    Four days later, I think I chose to invest my time in a thing that will not last, while the people I love had to fend for themselves.   Thankfully, now, mom is in rehab, Glen‘s neck is healing and my dad feels better.  I learned a lesson though, everything changes so quickly.  You have to plan for the curveballs and prioritize what is most important.