Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Life is what happens…
…when you’re busy making other plans. This pithy saying has defined my life so many times that I can’t remember them all. I don’t even remember when I first heard it said, but I have had occasion to quote it frequently. I can be going along about my business when a text, a letter, an unexpected event, or a phone call puts a halt in my trajectory. Suddenly plans need to be modified, or even cancelled. There is often little time to reflect on what the best thing is to do next. When this happens to me, I am grateful to have a mind that produces alternatives pretty quickly. In fact, one of my other favorite sayings is, “Always have a plan B!”.
The interruption can be joyous or it can take my breath away with its sorrowful nature. I remember getting the news of the death of a dear friend. The day came to a grinding halt and I just kept repeating, “Debbie can’t be gone.” I couldn’t get my mind around the hole that this news left in my heart. I was in Santa Fe at the time and we had talked about getting together on my next trip to Saint Louis. Or the time I met Mark and Mary for breakfast and when he walked through the door I knew in an instant that he had advanced cancer.
Imagine my surprise when Jackie and I were in Baltimore in 2017 for the Woman’s March and she quietly showed me a sonogram of my first grandchild. I can’t even describe how that affected my view of the world – suddenly a profound change presented itself, along with the joy of this news. About a year later they cleverly made another announcement. Grandparents were given a photo of Cameron sitting by a Home Depot blackboard, (that is one of Momoh’s favorite stores since he always has a project in the works). I got the Home Depot reference and I finally got the real point when I read the words on the blackboard: “Helper arriving in February, 2019!”. Because of these two gifts from God I am an experienced traveler to New Jersey. I can even find the Uber spot at LaGuardia Airport.
After graduation from Deaconess School of Nursing, I had a job lined up in a surgical unit in Columbia, Missouri. Then I met my future husband and suddenly the job in Columbia lost its allure. Also, a job opened up on the Psychiatric unit at Deaconess and I got my start in the fascinating realm of the human mind. Much later, an incident with a new boss led to the instant realization that I could not continue working for him. The next thing I knew, I became a Hospice nurse and got my start in the soul-sustaining nature of this work.
Then last night I got one of those texts that has changed all plans for this Christmas. COVID-19 has stricken Jackie’s Dad’s house, where they usually stay when in town. The text from Jackie gave me this news and asked about staying with Jan and me. With somber joy, respecting the loss of a regular Christmas at her Dad’s, we agreed that she and the boys can certainly stay. They were going to spend the night on Christmas Eve anyway, so now I will pick them up from the airport on Saturday and we will all cozily bunk together. As an aside, Jan and I have often wished we’d gotten a condo with more than one bedroom! But we have a comfortable pull out queen bed. As Jackie says, the boys often end up in bed with them anyway, so that is fine.
As you are busy making other plans, always respect the Universe’s support of surprises, and have a Plan B. Just in case.