NOT AS PLANNED

The sun was nowhere to be seen tonight. Only dark ominous clouds. Fitting, I thought, as it was reflective of my day today.

The children were not feeling much better this morning but since the doctor let us know their coughing might continue for the next two weeks, I drove them to school. I let them sleep in as long as possible, already deciding they would not be riding the bus. On the way to school, however, there seemed to be a major accident which caused policemen to direct traffic. The one mile to school took longer than normal but the children arrived just as the last bell rang.

I returned home to catch up on sleep. Broken was my sleep. Interspersed with dreams. Then the call from the school nurse. When I answered, she asked if I was sick as well. Then let me know that my oldest had a fever and needed to be picked up. She was also not allowed to return to school tomorrow. 'District policy' she said as I left the office with Saffron, '...it's in the handbook.'

My plan was to take a nap and go food shopping before the children arrived home. We had to compromise and go to the store nearby to get more English muffins and avocado and asparagus. The rest of the items I would have to buy over the weekend.

When the younger two arrived home on the bus, they did not feel any better. Cinnamon's teacher asked her if she would like to go to the nurse's office. Cinnamon decided against it but went to bed shortly after coming home. All three retreated to bed, with little to no dinner.

Sometimes life does not go as planned. Though we are given choices as to actions we can take, only we can make the final decision. But those choices affect other people as well. People who relied on us to decide otherwise. In that case, we find we need to make adjustments.

We know things will not be as planned so we have to find a way to live with the consequences. With the choices we made. We find a way to change the direction of our day and our future once again.