Life is a Collision Course

Life. No matter how much we plan for it, it just doesn’t always end up the way we think it’s going to.

Such was the case last night. I have been missing my younger sister Sydney quite a lot, so I texted her last week and said she and her fiancé Elana should come over for dinner. We had planned to do it this past Sunday, but we have our weekly live show Vino & Vent and the kids have to be in bed and it’s a school night, so we both agreed on Monday night since it would fit everyone’s schedule better. Monday it was.

I spent a good portion of the day getting groceries to make dinner, and then a good part of the afternoon making said dinner while PJ and the kids folded clothes, picked up the living room, and tidied the house to make it somewhat presentable for guests. As PJ and I were eating lunch earlier, I got a call from my mom who asked what time she should come over for dinner. She would now be joining us! Sydney had invited her to dinner, which was news to me, but happy news and I was even more excited.

As dinner was approaching completion and I was putting the garlic ciabatta rolls in the oven to bake, I receive a text from my sister saying they will probably be a little late due to traffic and the fact that their workout class had been running over. I told her no problem at all and that we would see her soon.

But then time passed, and more time passed, and dinner was ready but no one was here to eat it. Another text from Sydney comes in. It’s a picture of the flooded parking lot taken from inside her apartment saying, “We might be late.” The rain was pouring down so hard you could barely see anything. It was raining cats and dogs here, too (we live about 45 minutes away from her), which created a cozy atmosphere inside with lamps on and candles lit, but a driving hazard outside.

Nonetheless, I was really upset. By this time, she should have been pulling into our driveway and she hadn’t even left the house yet. With the rain and traffic, it would have taken them over an hour to get here. Feeling pretty down, I told her we should just reschedule as it was already getting late and the kids needed to be in bed soon. She said okay and that was that. I was so upset. I called my mom to let her know Sydney wasn’t coming and that she didn’t have to come either if she didn’t want. The night felt ruined. We were all running around the house all evening sprucing it up and cooking and it was all for nothing. My mom said she of course would still come over. She made a feta and tomato dip for an appetizer that was not going to go to waste.

My sister FaceTimed me a few minutes later to explain how they had already paid for and booked a trainer to workout with for a few sessions and that’s what took so long, as the trainer was 30 minutes late to their workout due to traffic. Everything has a ripple effect, doesn’t it? After her explanation and a little more context, I started to feel better. It was out of her hands and she tried all she could, but you can’t control someone else’s schedule and you definitely can’t control the weather. In the heat of the moment I was so angry when I started to realize the night wasn’t going to happen, but after a few minutes of calming down, and after talking to her about it, I felt so much better about the situation.

I know getting upset over someone missing a dinner due to weather seems unfair and minuscule, and it was. You don’t have to tell me because I already know. I think I just missed her so much and so much time and effort went into making last night happen, and then for it all to not work out, it felt crushing for a moment. But only for a moment.

One thing about me that I have come to understand and appreciate about myself as I’m getting older, is that I am adaptable. I go with the flow and I accept change as it happens. I didn’t have words for it when I was younger, but I suppose I have always been like this. I was angry for a bit, that’s true, but it always only lasts for a bit. I don’t really hold onto things once I accept that’s the way it is and I move on.

Life happens, and the events that occur always lead to another, and another, and another. If only one thing had been different last night, maybe we would have eaten together. If the rain wasn’t coming down so hard and making it dangerous to drive, or if her trainer hadn’t been late to their workout, or it wasn’t a school night and the kids didn’t have to be in bed earlier, then we all could have sat down at the dining table as planned. But life doesn’t always go according to plan, does it?

We all know this. It’s what we do when life happens that makes all the difference. The choices we make and the actions we take. And you know what? The night ended up being just fine. My mom came over with her dip and we all sat down and ate with her as the kids told their grandma all about their day at school and our oldest showed her what he wrote in the journal she gave him last week, and it was good. It was all good.

And then as we were going to bed, I felt something on my leg under the covers and I shined a light on it to see that A SPIDER WAS CRAWLING ON ME. Talk about life happening. Ugh. Definitely didn’t plan to end the day like that.