I woke up this morning to the sound of rain.
I like rain . . . BUT it interferes with my morning ritual of Meditate/Pray – Read – Walk the dog (This is what I don’t get to do) – Start the blender (Wake up the kids) – Breakfast – Kids to school – Then to the office.
So . . . I was already a little off-center – Made it through the other pieces and got in the car with my daughter right on time and started towards her school.
1/2 way there and making good time, and Jessica says: “UH-OH!”
She had forgotten to put on her SHOES . . . So we turned around and went back to the house to fetch them thereby making us LATE to school.
When I arrived at my office and reached into the back seat for my brief-case and lunch, there were TWO lunches there . . .
“UH-OH!” In her haste getting out the car, Jessica had left her lunch . . . I know I would need to get it to her school before her 11:30 lunch period.
Just as I sat in my chair at the office, my Mother called. She had bought a new printer for her computer and was having difficulty getting it installed correctly . . . had a paper she needed to print BEFORE NOON, or the world as we know it would END. I tried to preserve a little of my morning work routine and told her I could swing by her house @ 10:30 on my way to drop off Jessica’s lunch.
WHEW! Feeling good that I now had 2 hours of “safe space” to work, I settled back into my chair and booted my computers up . . .
the phone rang . . .
It was my Wife who was calling to report that the cleaning service had flushed the upstairs toilet and it had overflowed and water was cascading through the downstairs 1/2 bathroom ceiling fixture . . . could I go there IMMEDIATELY?
Just about that time, I got notification that a lock box on one of our listings was malfunctioning, and we just HAD to have that key out there for the new Buyer to do a final walk-through this afternoon. I would need to drive to Brentwood to have the box serviced.
WOW!
My perfectly imagined day (I had built quite an exciting list of client calls and todos) was BLOWN APART even as my eyes opened and feet hit the floor first thing in the morning.
Can you say: “STRESSED TO THE MAX!“?
I was about to blow a gasket – go homicidal – or simply just SPLODE!
As I was sorting all of this out in my brain I thought of the quarterback in the most important game of his life breaking out of a huddle and seeing the opponent’s defensive line-up would DESTROY the offensive play necessitating an “audible” . . . It’s time to change the call on the fly.
As Zac Brown says, “If you can’t change it, Let it GO!”
that’s when the final straw hit me . . . We had ordered a print job and just discovered that only 1/2 of it had been printed requiring me to pick up the paper and deliver to the printer on the other side of town before 2:00.
I saw another incoming phone call . . . It was my friend Buck . . . I let it go to voice mail because I needed space to THINK.
He left This message: “Hay Barry! I was driving down the road listening to the Margaritaville Stream on Sirius and remembered some great times. You oughta turn on some Buffett . . . Hope you have a great day!
DAMN!
He was right!
I was TOTALLY taking it all too seriously!
So . . . I jumped in the car and cranked up the Jimmy Buffett and Zac Brown and sang my way to the house to assess the toilet – Then to Mom’s to fix her computer – Then to Lowes (for a new SUPERFLUSH toilet) – Then to pick up the paper then  REALTRACS to fix the lock box . . . and the phone rang again.
This was the icing on the cake. Debbie calling me to invite me to lunch – Thai food . . . just around the corner from the printer.
When I arrived, she hugged me and wished me a Happy Veterans Day and thanked me for my service to our country.
WOW!
This was the BEST DAY EVER!
even though NOTHING went according to the plan.
🙂
God Bless America!