Tip for a Tuesday....

Expect the unexpected.....and be flexible.

My life moves along much more smoothly when I remember to be flexible.  Since having children, I learned that while it is important to have a "rough" schedule of how I think my day will go, oftentimes little things - or sometimes big things - can come along that call for me to bend so I don't break.

Like today.  I had a rough idea yesterday afternoon about what I had hoped to accomplish in the garden this morning. But after Dudley the basset hound's mad dash across the threshold of the back door after dinner last night tore off part of his nail,  I knew that more than likely I would be at the vet's this morning.

Luckily we got a fairly early appointment and Duds' was soon given heavy medication to make him comfortable while they tried to remove the nail.  The Lady vet, nurses and I all agreed that Dudley was very "stoic" and was holding up extremely well given the level of pain he was in.

The Englishman took this photo of him this afternoon.  Poor guy.  The vet said he would probably appear "stoned" for the rest of the day.  That's putting it mildly - he is out for the count!  And even when he is awake, he doesn't seem to know where, or for that matter, who, he is.

So the garden had to wait.  Being flexible, I didn't stamp my feet and whine about not getting things done on my list.  When the girls were small there were times when it didn't all go according to plan.  Kids get sick, they fall down, they need some extra hugs and kisses.  While teaching I also had to be flexible.  Certain math concepts would take much longer to grasp than the allotted period of time, world events would invite numerous questions which couldn't wait to be answered and some days we just needed to close the books early and dance!

Planning is good.  Just remember that life is always going to go as planned.  Relax and go with the flow.  You - and everyone around you - will be happier if you do.