Monday, February 23, 2009

It's not easy being green

Kermit the Frog once sang a song from the heart about the trials and tribulations of being green. This song has been playing in my mind this week as I continue to lose things,including myself, in my efforts to improve my punctuality.

I hate being late for appointments. And it is said that it is a control thing. People who are late, like to have the world revolve around them...so that they are controlling the situation. I have a hard time believing that, but yet, somehow, subconsciously, I believe that it is true.

So I had an appointment this week with a Wedding Planner to get information and tour a venue for my daughter. The appointment had to be changed because some one's schedule changed (not mine) and thus, I was not in control of the situation. The appointment was now scheduled for 4:00 in the afternoon. Not leaving myself enough time, I tried to get off the highway and head though town, only discovering that I had no clue how to get there in a quick and efficient way. I had to call my husband who I was supposed to be meeting there, and admit I would be late. Upon arrival I had to admit I was late because I did not leave work early enough. To make matters worse, someone in front of me at the tollbooth tried to put a dollar bill into the quick change basket. And then decide against it and had to rummage through his vehicle for loose change-only to toss the dollar bill into the basket anyways: time elapsed? 5 minutes. There were red lights, and wrong turns and a big circle, that's all I know, and I was 30 minutes late.

The appointment was uneventful, and off we headed in separate vehicles. As we headed through Newmarket toward home, I following the Bravada, we approached the train tracks. Head down, I followed the vehicle in front of me, not paying much attention to the headlights approaching down the track to my left. As I awakened from my thought, I noticed the red flashing lights of the cross bar just as the bar lowered behind my passing truck and the train's horn blew a warning to signal its crossing. Phew! that was a little close!

The next event kicked off the weekend in a really big way. I was meeting a friend at her house to go to a hockey game. I was determined Not to be late. I rushed through my workout and dashed out of the gym and headed to her house. As I pulled into her driveway it was 5:00 on the dot. But there were no cars in the drive and her house was in darkness. Maybe she parked in the garage? The boys were barking tehir heads off as I sat in my truck for a few minutes gathering my stuff. Because of my rush, my stuff was everywhere. I got out of the truck and walked up to the house and the barking continued. I hadn't been there in awhile. I opened the door leading to the foyer and proceeded to open the kitchen door. As I did, I heard a beep..an another beep..the dogs were exhuberant! "Is anyone home? Hello??!"

All of a sudden, over the barking blared an alarm.."CRAP! You guys need to stay in here!" I shut the door and headed back to my truck, the alarm blaring a shrill siren like tone."Great. This could only happen to me." As I left a message on her cell phone, a police cruiser pulled into the driveway. "It was me," I fessed up sheepishly. He didn't really know what to do, so he politely and apologetically asked me for my information as my friend's daughter pulled into the driveway.

"It's okay, I know her," she said. Great.

I am glad the week is over. I tried to turn over a new leaf and be more punctual, instead, I cretaed more stress for myself and others. The worst was having to continually explain myself and admit the errors in my thinking that lead to some bad situations. Funny? Yes. It could only happe to me.

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