This week got off to a fast start when my musical audition went well.
Scheduled the audition at 4:45, anticipating that it'd get me to my next appointment by 6:00. That estimate turned out to be right on the money with a few minutes to spare.
Lately, life has been flowing well like that. My ability to estimate the time needed to get things done has been rolling. And when it hasn't, God's stepped in for an assist.
Wednesday evening I had an appointment at 2:15 that I figured would allow me enough time afterward to get to the bank and drop off a condo fee deposit, and then to a tutoring session at 4:00. Figured that the tutoring would straggle longer than an hour, so booked a 2-hour tutoring session at 6:30 so as to allow enough time to get home, grab a bite to eat, and head back. Bingo.
Thursday I had a 3:00 appointment and guessed that I'd have enough time to get home, changed, and over to more finals-week tutoring at 5:00. One of my Wednesday students needed a second crash session on Thursday night, so we plugged that in from 7:00-9:00. Did that leave enough time to get dinner and get back in between? Yep.
In fact, the 5:00 appointment had forgotten a key review handout, so we broke off early. That gave me enough time to also work in a blog post.
He needed to reschedule an emergency session for Saturday. Since the bus for our basketball game was leaving at 3:00, I put our start time at 1:30. Unfortunately, I was running late that day. Wouldn't you know it, as I reach for my phone to text his mom, there's already one from her on there saying that they're running behind! We got done at 2:40, got to the bus comfortably on time.
We lost our best player to injury, and two close games this weekend. Basketball's truly a game of inches. We're 4-4, and literally if we'd made three more layups we'd be 7-1. And the character of this team is to hang together and strap it on for the next third of the season. When the coach ends his post-game locker room talk with "I love you guys very much," you know that you are on the right team.
When that same coach scrapes the frost off your windshield for you... how can you help but give thanks to God for the opportunity to be around this man?
Dena and I had a chance for our first real date night in a few weeks on Friday. We talked about short-term and distant stuff. It's fun to dream. We even got a chance for a quick nap before heading out to the movies.
The usual Christmas checklist is moving along. Gift for the Freidinger grab. Details about Jack and Mom, and our northern trip plans. State Farm Holiday Classic basketball tournament arrangements in order. This week: Shopping for the McFamily.
At work Rob helped me knock off a major project commitment (or did I help him?) that had been on our plate for some time. Tina and I finalized several employee hirings that will give us a solid foundation for next year. Betty helped me put out some customer service fires. I could go on, as usual, about the wonderful team that I've been blessed with as direct reports at the office.
The other day it occurred to me that it'd been... months?... since I could recall spending a length of time brooding about the mistakes or misfortunes of the past. And though I'm not much of a worrier, the stress level about impending responsibilities hadn't reached the red zone for a while either.
What's the secret been?
Not much point in spouting theories, really. I'm giving credit to a self-realization about the importance of being thankful for all the fleeting happinesses that wash my way (and recently, in 10-foot waves, it seems), and the confidence that comes from using God-given talent the best I can. Many mornings I wake up, get the first good stretch of the day in under warm covers and give a 20-second prayer of thanks.
All of my students are passing their math classes. Some have been texting me with triple exclamation points. One gave me a Christmas gift.
For however long I'm fortunate enough to be in the zone, I'll take it!
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