“The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry…”
It’s a paraphrase
from a Scottish poem. (more info here)
And also a dangling comment made by a few different people in different
conversations recently as I have been navigating a difficult few days. (“the best laid plans….)
It’s true. They do.
My job is planning. And then executing those plans. In the next four weeks I am running trainings
for almost three hundred people in Antananarivo, organizing the logistical
details for that and the sixteen different people coming and going to make them
happen (I am the consistent one)… follow up visits in five different cities, a
few important governmental and partnership meetings thrown in for good measure,
discussing and planning for next field service and writing reports for the
current one. Oh, and not flunking out of
graduate school.
It’s always like this at the end of the field service but this
year it seems a bit more… insane, I guess.
I’m carrying more responsibility and I’m a detailed planner (when
necessary) so to manage all this had settled details and paperwork and supplies
and organization well in advance…
Which is great until those best laid plans go awry. Which they have.
And it makes me realize a few things. (again.)
No matter how much control I think I have? I don’t. People need to leave unexpectedly and others
fall ill and things get turned in (three weeks) late and all of that is out of
my hands. And then we throw in flight
changes and some more team changes and a cyclone heading our direction and I
almost start laughing from the absurdity of it.
The absurdity of my belief that if I work hard enough,
things will be perfect.
I’m also laughing because the alternative is ugly crying,
and let’s face it, laughing is just a better option.
So I’m adding “secure for sail” to my to-do list, in case
Fantala really starts wreaking havoc and the ship has to ride it out at
sea. It’s just a real hassle, since we
have to cancel surgery and evacuate patients and it would really be great if
Fantala would just turn around. So if
you are the praying type, please pray for that.
 |
| from http://www.hurricanezone.net/#19s, with my colorful labels! |
And I’m releasing what control I think I have into the
universe, focusing on what is in front of me, trusting that none of this is a
surprise to the Creator of it all. Thank
you, friends and family, for your support, encouragement, pep talks and love. I’ll take every bit I can get at the moment.
xxK
