It's In My Calendar

I'm a pretty boring person.  The Mr. is, too, for that matter.

We like routine and order, and we're pretty good at it.  Every Monday night we get out our calendars and make plans for the coming week.  Everything we will be doing is written into the schedule -- in ink.  

It works for us, but I realize that would drive some people crazy.  In fact I believe it drove our two oldest daughters crazy when they were teenagers.  A common conversation on Monday nights back then went something like this:

Daughter #1:  "Oh, come on Mom.  I don't know what I'm going to be doing on the weekend.  Can't we just be like normal teenagers and wait and see when Friday night rolls around?"

Although I can appreciate this line of reasoning, it can sometimes drive me crazy!  For example:

* When I try to schedule an appointment to go visiting teaching, and the woman says, "I don't know if I'm going to be home that day or not.  Call me that morning and I'll let you know."

* When it has been decided within a group of people that we will always get together the 2nd Tuesday of every month, and the day before one person says, "Oh sorry, I didn't know we were having it that day.  Can we change it to another day instead?"

* When I'm in charge of something that involves the co-operation of a lot of people, and I painstakingly make sure that everyone knows all the details and what is expected of them, and near the crunch day someone says, "I didn't bother to write it down so I didn't know."

Ugh!!

Daughter #2 recently described me as "mentally committed".  I realize that almost sounds like I should be living in an insane asylum, but what she meant is that once I've committed to something, I will always remember it, and base my other plans around it.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Except when it comes to spontaneity.

Recently we took a trip to attend our niece's wedding festivities (which we, of course, had listed on our calendar months in advance.)  We were given last-minute instructions for a change to our arrival time, which left us with a few hours to kill.  After a short discussion we decided to go to the mall and begin our Christmas shopping.

When we arrived at the mall, however, the parking lot was full, so we ended up parking near an entryway at the back that we didn't even know about.  When we walked in the door, we were surprised to discover that there was a movie theatre there.  But what was even more surprising was that we decided -- on a whim -- to take in a matinee.

We have never done that before!!  It was exhilarating!!

I could hardly stop thinking about the fact that we had done something spontaneous.  It was great!  I decided that I need to do that more often.

It's now on my calendar to be spontaneous.

Every 1st and 3rd Thursday.

Between 1 and 3 pm.

Dixie