Busy Making Other Plans
You can make all the plans you want, but be prepared because sometimes Life has its own ideas!
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
That quote was made famous by John Lennon when he used it in the song "Beautiful Boy" on his 1980 album, "Double Fantasy."
The quote, though, had its origins in 1957 in Reader’s Digest. It was included in their Quotable Quotes section in January 1957 and attributed to Allen Saunders. You can read all about it here.
For me, that one line makes more and more sense as time goes by. I’ve had many times when that quote described what was happening in my own life:
The vacation we cancelled on day 2 because of a family illness that took us back home.
The day my father broke his hip. That day changed the total trajectory of my life. Having medical power of attorney and all the other powers, and eventually being executor of his estate.
Many other times has life happened during the middle of other plans. Most not as drastic as the first 2 I mentioned.
And it happened again just last week.
My original plan for today's post was to talk about the trip we took the week before. To tell you what we thought of Weatherford, to talk about the surprise birthday party on Saturday, and maybe, just maybe, to talk about the new home we found while there. Even to include some pictures.
Sadly, none of that happened. We were busy making plans when life happened. Resulting in 911 calls, ambulances and hospital stays. Which meant the cancelling of our trip, which had been planned for quite a while.
Instead of taking that trip, it was trips to the hospital.
It just wasn't meant to be. However, that trip, without the surprise birthday party, will happen another day.
Since life had happened and there was little to be done about it, I had to make the best of it. I had made an egg casserole, with spinach, bacon and Swiss cheese, that was to be breakfast for some of the mornings of our trip. It made excellent quick meals on mornings when fixing breakfast wasn't a priority, but eating was.
And I had made up individual bags of trail mix for the trip. I make my own so that I know exactly what is in each bag. They became on-the-run snacks. Much better than the machines at the hospital!
Is it Safe to Plan?
Is it safe to make plans again? I think it’s always safe to make plans. But it's a good idea to be a bit flexible. To know that life can happen at any time. And your plans may need to change.
Which brings up one more thing: Get the travel insurance. I rejected it because it is always a gamble. We were driving by car so we knew there would be no airline delays. What could possibly go wrong? Famous last words. Turns out, we are out the cost of the hotel we had booked. Lesson learned.
About the cat
The cat picture? That's Bubba wondering why his human left him and waiting for him to return home. Which did happen after a couple of days and they had a very happy reunion.
What's next?
I’m going to be taking it slower for the next few weeks, or even months. As we regroup and continue with our plan to move. I’m going to be sharing how meals are planned at our house. My sister, Conni, used to plan her meals in detail. Exactly what they were eating each day of the week. And then do her shopping to fit. I do not plan meals that carefully.
I thought it might be fun to show how we ‘plan’ meals, just to show that it doesn’t take a lot of work and planning. Tune in next week for the first episode!