High Hopes

I awoke today and sneaked away before anyone else was awake. I even slipped out without the a dog to walk on my trail. Even she slept soundly tucked next the "the law".

Yes, I zipped, freshly showered, away to the grocery store. Before bewildered, slow-pokey cart wielders had a chance to fill the aisles. I planned my day--minus the double tall skim caramel latte. I had no time for struggling to push my cart with one hand. I had things to do today.

High hopes. Lists to be made. Lists to be completed.

Once home the urge to have a filling breakfast overtook me and then next thing I knew I was short order cooking for the future pilot. Assisting my favorite little girl with her Easy Bake oven. Crisping bacon in the oven for future use in BLTs over the course of the week. Yes, between laundry cycles, and list making I stopped to read to the future pilot or make drinks for the kids or walk the dog. Load songs on my daughter's i-Pod. Send replies to the family for Thanksgiving preparations.

Did one thing on my list get accomplished? No. Not one. The grocery shopping is done for the week--I hope. But that was completed before I started making my lists therefore I have not one thing to cross off my list.

I could choose to be frustrated or grumpy but you know what? I'm not. Life doesn't have to fit my plan. And even if I tried like heck to plan every detail, or just an outline, my life is never going to go in my direction. Oh the plotted course may at times seem similar but the plan is not mine.

I've been following Gavin Owen's blog for several months. My kids and I have been praying for him and his family. Hoping he would some day be well. That his sister would see him grow up to live and laugh and love. Yesterday his parents made the hard decision to let him go. It has been over 24 hours and he is still hanging on. There is nothing left to be done that his earthly parents can do. They certainly did not choose this to be a slow and heartwrenching process but that is what it is nonetheless. My heart is aching for them--though I've never met them. I'm sure none of this was in their plan.

So, incomplete lists are not going to make me grumpy today. They are going to remind me that life comes at me and when it does I should thank God that I have life. The small interuptions are reminders that the patters of small feet exist completely healthy around me. Lists can wait. The todays with my kids can not.