I Pulled a Rabbit Out of my Hat on Saturday

Someone who knew I used my vacation time from work last week recently said to me, "Well, at least you weren't in front of the computer the entire time."

Well...

I actually used a good deal of that vacation time for an at-home writing retreat, a tradition I started a few years ago when I couldn't afford the plane ticket to see Sarah in Raleigh.

The retreat wasn't as grueling as past retreats. The project was small, the word count was modest (by my count), I did build in a little rest (just on weekends), and I did spend some time with family and friends, and I attended a WriteOn Joliet meeting and a storytelling event. 

I also addressed a few "life" issues that cropped up and thoroughly caught up on housework, since I'd let some of that slide during the week so I could focus on writing.

The result of my flexibility was that Friday fell apart all together, and I entered Saturday with a solid third of the project still to write.

But can you believe I managed to pull that proverbial rabbit right out of my hat?

I hit my goal shortly before midnight, gave Faith my calico some attention (she'd waited patiently all day and all day was fast disappearing), and I climbed into bed before 1 a.m. feeling pretty satisfied.

Sunday I spent half a day working since I had a doctor's appointment on Monday - yes, on my first day back to work. But it's an annual appointment made twelve months earlier, and you know how that goes.

So what's the message here?

No message.

Just a bit of sharing and bragging, I suppose.

OK, maybe one message.

Just because plans go awry, doesn't mean the goal is lost.

We can't avoid the unexpected. And we can't check out on life for long periods to attain the goal, too.

So it's important to be flexible, adjust, refocus the refocus, sacrifice a bit, to be able to hop over that finish line.

When you do, don't forget to give yourself that well-deserved pat on the back.

Here I am, at the ripe of old age of sixty-one, learning a new trick or two. It's a great way to enter a new week.

Happy Monday!