Plan

I wandered to my computer Sunday night just before bed.  I was amazed how quickly news coverage occurred after Super Bowl XLV.  Thoughts on commercials, performers, and images of the action were posted for perusal.  According to an Associated Press article on foxsports.com four hundred fans had been refused admittance at the gate.  They paid $800 for tickets and got in line on time, but their temporary seats had been deemed unsafe.  While they apparently walk away with $2,400 for their troubles, those fans did not have the evening that was their plan. 

The World English Dictionary at dictionary.com offers the following entries for the noun plan.      

1.  a detailed scheme, method, etc. for attaining an objective
2.  a proposed, usually tentative idea for doing something
3.  a drawing to scale of a horizontal section through a building taken at a given level
4.  an outline, sketch, etc.
5.  (in perspective drawing) any of several imaginary planes perpendicular to the line of vision and between the eye and the object depicted.

Making a plan feels as natural to me as putting one foot in front of the other to walk.  Is there any other way to get moving?  Annual themes, family fridge calendar, time regulated daily events, lists for dinners - all art in action in my life.  Or so I like to think.  Having a detailed scheme for getting things done generally works.  But I do often forget the proposed, tentative nature of a plan.  No matter how perfectly the events on a to-do list should flow, sometimes they don’t. 

What happens when we have done everything to accomplish our plans and they don’t come to fruition?  Or when we change our minds?  The disappointment can be as short-term and simple as lunch to cancel when a child wakes up sick or as complicated and painful as a broken engagement.  The ramifications of changed plans can range from rescheduling a hair appointment to selling a home we can no longer afford, choosing an out of state job, or cancelling an anticipated trip to attend a child’s holiday school performance.  Occasionally the change in plans is our choice.

I recently decided to avoid some disappointment of derailed plans, to be more fun (see last week’s post) by skipping lists and trying to go with a more spontaneous flow.  The outcome was that I forgot to pick up kids after early dismissal at school, served several mediocre meals, missed a gymnastics class and felt exhausted.  I removed the frustration of a wrecked plan and replaced it with a much worse sense of confusion for myself.  Plans work for us.  I might even say they are essential for getting anywhere.  But we should not let plans make us stuck and we have to try to roll with it if reality doesn’t match the proposal intended for a day or a year or a lifetime.