Whatever it Takes

Talking to my mom last night.  Recounting my day to her.  I had a tight schedule for the day.  10:00 met with a friend to plan a getaway vacation.  Of course, I had to stop for my energy drink and sandwich on the way.  A few minutes late, but we got the plan done and I had enough time left to stop and visit my husband before heading out to a truck stop out of the cities about an hour up the freeway.  A slight delay in leaving as we had sat on a curb in the shade and it took awhile to get my husband back on his feet to take him back.  Still doing ok, only a few minutes late leaving, figured I could make it up on the freeway.  Wrong.  I get on the freeway to go across the top of the city and it’s a parking lot.  Construction rerouting traffic up to the freeway I was on.  Really, why did all those cars have to be going across the top of the city?  It’s Sunday afternoon and they should be heading south to go home from the weekend, shouldn’t be in my way up north.  OK, so I finally make the freeway heading north.  Finally, the traffic is manageable and I was able to make up the time I lost.  Perfect.  I approached the exit right on time.  But now the traffic was backed up down the exit and I had to pull onto the shoulder and stop before I could exit.  Where the hell are all these people going?  7 minutes to get to the top of the exit, cut around the traffic and make my right turn into the truck stop.  Just in time for our non-profit monthly meeting. 

My mom said “that’s my girl, whatever it takes.”  She taught me well.  We laughed as we thought about all the times in our lives where we both did whatever it takes to make our lives happen. Sometimes it takes a bit of creative thinking and a lot of perseverance to accomplish what needs to be done…raising kids, raising husbands, raising ourselves. She taught me by example.  Of course, being “Chick,” I have my own spin on that. I’m not afraid to bend the rules and can always come up with a rationale or way around an obstacle.  I’m not big on planning, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants.  A rough plan is a good start, but be prepared for me to alter the plan if something gets in my way.  Used to drive my husband crazy.  He likes to follow the plan.  No worries, keeps him on his toes.  

I’m a big picture kind of person, don’t pay too much attention to the details.  I don’t see myself as organized, although my mom always says I am.  I just get things done.  I’m a problem solver, come up with a plan, get my ducks in a row to get started and take off.  If the ducks don’t follow, I figure out a different plan on the fly.  I know my destination and keep figuring out how to get there.  Over the years I’ve discovered it’s good to have someone around who does pay attention to the details. I’ve been bailed out of tricky situations more than once, in business or in my personal life.

There was the time in my younger days, I left town for parts unknown, headed east towards Wisconsin, picked up a hitchhiker and ended up heading back west to South Dakota and living there for several months before I found my way back to my home town.  Or the many times I left on a business trip only to arrive at my destination with no clue what hotel I was staying at or where it was.  I was known to sit down in the airport to look it up on my laptop, or make a phone call to a friend to find out where I was supposed to be.  My first time in Paris, was a bit more complicated since I didn’t speak French, but after a bus ride, subway ride, walking around with my suitcase in the drizzle, getting wrong directions from one person, out of desperation I stopped in a shop.  Oh, but she didn’t speak English.  But I had the hotel name and address written down and we were able to communicate with hand signals and a map, and I found my hotel.  Or the time I tried to board a plane for San Diego when I was going to San Francisco.  Of course, the San Francisco flight was on the other side of the airport. 

I wasn’t too sure where I was going with this when I started writing, but here we are.  Today was another day where I scrapped all my plans for the day when Alice asked me if I wanted to ride.  Duh?  That’s all it takes and we were riding. We did decide to head into town to a local mall to take care of a few things.  Nothing exciting, but a chance for Alice to get some time in driving in traffic.  As usual, she did great.  She’s a natural born rider and is a delight to ride with.  I keep a close eye on her following me, but it’s not really necessary, just something I do when I’m leading.  I did make it to a planned dinner in the city with friends.  Didn’t have time to go home, change and get the truck.  So I rode my bike into the city.  Not as fun as riding the roads out by my place, but certainly more challenging with the traffic.  Puts some of my riding skills to the test.  I made it safely to dinner, right on time and home safely, even though it was nearing “deer thirty.”  In the city, it’s all the cars you have to pay attention to.  In the country, still gotta pay attention and keep an eye out for the deer.  My husband used to call it “putting your deer eyes on.”

I’m the Road Captain for our bike club trip this weekend.  That means I plan the route including gas stops, lunch, etc.  So, this time I will have to pay a little more attention to the details, since I’ll be leading the pack and they will expect me to have everything covered.  But, never fear, they will ask me all the questions before we start out to make sure I’m not going to lead them astray.  After all, we’ve been riding together for years and they like to know for sure what I’ve got planned.  I’ll let you know next week how I did.

Just remembered a few details of what I was supposed to do today.  I think it involved paying some bills due today.  I probably better get to it. The phone calls for appointments will have to wait for tomorrow.  Oh well, the hours spent riding and with friends were well worth it.  Now to take care of business…later.