All Things in Due Time

I am a person of immediacy. Intensive care driven, list check-off motivated, when I said do it I meant NOW kinda-gal. OCD. It makes it very hard to be married to a Type B opposite personality husband, and to have been the mother of 3 children who take after their Dad. It is a behavior that has served me well (mostly), has saved lives and kept my home organized, but which has probably shortened my life span from the stress and frustration it has created.

I have been on a vacation of sorts this week.  We had planned on a trip to the coast, but my car and our dog had other plans, and the drain of funds turned it into a stay-cation. Never fear, I said, I can make a list of things to get done. I have needed this time. After 3 years of leadership, and doctoral education, my home has been sorely ignored and needs plenty of attention. The list-building began, including cleaning up and out, reorganizing, fixing my I-tunes problem (that is worthy of a post all its own), quilting, doing some work-related data entry, work-related competency activities, etc.

You can see it coming now…only a few items on the list were addressed. I got wrapped up in the whole I-tunes dilemma and spent almost my entire time off re-loading my 1200 tunes and re-creating all my playlists. My pantry did get cleaned out, and my refrigerator and freezer cleaned, but that was because I sweet talked my husband into showing me how it’s done. I read a book or two, swam and slept, but everything on the list did not get done.

I spent some time at the end of my stay-cation being very frustrated about this, until I read a post by Robin Roberts that put me in my place. Writing about the events of her last year, a bone marrow transplant and recovery, she stated that old bit of wisdom, “All things in due time.”

One of my mantras has been “I know life and death, and this isn’t it.” Why have I not taken my own words to heart? The world will not end because I did not get XXX cleaned, because I did not get my training done, because I didn’t…(fill in the blank). It isn’t life and death. All things in due time.

I have often wished away days and years of my life because I was in a hurry to get things done. May I take a moment to breathe in the fresh air and sunshine, read a good book, take a nap, download another song, hold hands with my husband, listen to a friend. The list will be there tomorrow.