Well, this will go down as a week that gave me plenty of reminders that the best laid plans are usually those I didn’t make and couldn’t predict. Just like John Lennon whispered to his son Sean in Beautiful Boy:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
I was so touched by all your support after Tuesday’s post about our change in plans for Tru, with him not going to kindergarten this year. That day, with his big brother off at school, Tru seemed a little low on energy. By evening, he felt warm. By yesterday morning, he was weepy and groggy – complaining of a tummy ache. All he wanted was for me to be by his side, rubbing his back, soothing him with cold washcloths. I love those moments, actually, when I feel like my presence is healing, when my kiddos feel better just having their mama nearby.
The only thing? I had planned to be running errands and packing my suitcase.
See, this morning I was supposed to board a plane to Santa Fe with my mom and Nana for a girls’ weekend. My mom treated us to this trip, to one of our favorite places, knowing it will likely be our last; my grandma is 89 and was recently diagnosed with cancer. (Sigh. Hard to put that in writing.) I’ve been soooo looking forward to it, knowing it would be a meaningful trip.
But by 6pm last night, Tru’s fever spiked to 104.6, even after having Tylenol, and he could barely move. Hello, panic. Looong story short, we spent the evening at Urgent Care and narrowly escaped hospitalization. Around midnight, back at home, I was on the phone with the airline, trying to get out of my morning flight and bummed that if I postponed, I’d have to pay the difference between what our tickets cost and what they cost now (hundreds of dollars). I didn’t know if I should go at all.
Friends, I crumpled into an exhausted pile of tears.
I wanted so much for something to just go as planned, for all to be well, that I couldn’t see straight. I let myself cry. It felt really good. And then I went to bed, trusting that I’d know what to do in the morning and that everything would work itself out. It was all I had. And it worked.
Tru’s fever broke. He woke me at 5:30am to say, “I’m just fine, mom!” and then crawled into bed between us. Still, I wanted to monitor him for a while. I called to postpone my flight and, by some miracle, the airline charged me only a $50 change fee and waived the extra cost of a ticket for a later flight. So I’m going to Santa Fe tonight, friends, and leaving behind a boy on the mend who’s excited to help drop me off at the airport later.
My best decision was to trust in a better outcome than I could have imagined for myself. Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans – and I’m feeling pretty grateful for that.
(Note: the image above is a free printable for you. I figure I’m probably not the only one who repeatedly needs this reminder! Just click on the image and it will open a PDF file with a 5×7 image.)
