This Whirlwind Called Life

I'm sure you can all identify with the old saying, "I planned to do _____ but life got in the way." That's sort of the way things are going at my house. I have all these great plans to accomplish wonderful things, then something comes up. Or several somethings.

This week was supposed to be catch up from being gone all last week. And I'd scheduled a trip to the Los Angeles temple taking several older sisters who don't drive and look forward to getting out (because it not only involves going to the temple which is a treat for us all, but lunch!) And training for my new FH calling, and cleaning out more family history boxes, and lots of dehydrating.

When I got home, I discovered my Hawaiian friend's new care giver had scheduled an eye appointment for her. I've been taking care of Margaret's medical needs for ...mmm... three years now, I think. I take her to all her doctor appointments (which are many!) and for a couple of years I gave her daily insulin shots, then for months when I went every morning to do her insulin shots and give her eye drops (she was going blind) and make sure she took her medication, I also had to dress her burned hand. So this has been an on-going process.

But I digress. An unplanned item on my calendar, but not an unpleasant task! I get to read while she is waiting to see the Beverly Hills retina specialist. Her appointments range from three to four hours and I get to read!! I picked up Dan Brown's Deception Point as I ran out the door to get her, not having any idea what to expect. Another DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons type? Absolutely not. But when did he start writing techno-thrillers? I couldn't put it down.

My next digression from my planned schedule was peaches. The birds were eating them faster than I could pick and dry them. (I don't can anymore. I freeze and dehydrate everything.) So instead of doing my scheduled new.familysearch.org training, I did peaches. Then the birds went to the apple tree. So even though they weren't as ripe as I'd have liked, they had to be picked. If you sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on the slices before you dry them, you have a sweet-tart product the kids love.

Hadn't finished the apples (just ignored the fig tree because I already have about four batches of jam finished and the birds flocked all over that one before I could even approach it!) when my daughter called. She had a project with a Monday deadline and hadn't been able to do any more than the research. Could I come and baby-sit? Baby Julian was teething and needed a lot of extra attention. So I finished the apples I'd picked, left the rest for Glenn to pick when he got home, and yesterday I left the house at 4:45 to make the 6:30 session at the temple. She only lives 20 minutes from the temple, so I always take advantage of the trip to Los Angeles to go to the temple. The traffic isn't fun!

I got to put Julian in the stroller and walk Violet to pre- school, then spend the rest of the day cuddling Julian. I walked to Shelley's favorite restuarant and picked up lunch. (Julian loves going for rides in the stroller!) Have you ever had soft pretzel bread with chicken curry? Delicious!! Then we walked to get Violet at 5:00 to bring her home from school. Upside - I lost one of the pounds yesterday that I gained last week eating out while at the reunion!) :)

Brought Violet home with me last night so I could drive in the commuter lane and Shelley brought Julian. For the next two days I get to be a full-time gramma while Shelley finishes her paper. Swimming, park, walks around the block, reading books, and making goodies. Violet has already given me her list of treats: peanut butter balls, pudding, and cookies. See what you have to look forward to, Jeri! And congratulations!

So though I have accomplished next to nothing on my to-do list, life gave me greater opportunities by getting in the way of my own dreary schedule. Sometimes those blessings are greater than we'd have asked for ourselves.