Go With the Flow

It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I am a planner. I like to know what is happening, with whom, and when with plenty of time to plan ahead the smoothest way for our crazy days to unfold. I can handle last minute changes, but not graciously. Today was such a day: this evening Ava's elementary school had their annual Cougar Crawl. I had asked Ava at the beginning of the week if she was interested in going; once she realized it conflicted with dance she stated very firmly that she did not want to miss dance class so she wouldn't go to the Crawl. This morning, I asked her one last time to make sure she had not changed her mind, and again she confirmed that she would rather go to dance than to the Cougar Crawl.

Then she came out of school at the end of the day with THAT look - a part sheepish, part pleading, part overexcited look as she asked me if she could come back for Cougar Crawl after all. Was it a big deal? No. But to grant her request required me to drop her off at dance, race home so as to pass the car off to Ben who had needed to gather Ava's clothes for this event (since she of course didn't wear sneakers or a t-shirt to school that day), then have Ben run back out to get Ava while I got the younger two ready to walk over to the school. My inner planner was not happy. There were several ways that could have all gone smoother, and I hate scrambling at the last minute.

Ultimately, of course, everything came together and we all had a great time at Cougar Crawl. The kids did their walk around the neighborhood and then ate, played, and danced the rest of the night away on the school's playground. I was glad Ava made the choice not to miss out on this once-a-year event. And for as much as I had wanted this to be a lesson in suffering the consequences of your choices, I am glad I didn't give in to my planning-side and just went with the fun of our last minute evening.