Today was supposed to be an "easy" day. When I turned in on Saturday night, the only items on my Father's Day agenda were a run and dropping the kids off in Burlington at 2pm. Time with the kids would take up the rest of the day, they would be feeding me grapes and fanning me with palm fronds (a guy can dream can't he?) With such a simple plan, what could go wrong? Well thankfully, nothing actually went WRONG I just had to make some adjustments along the way.
I was pretty surprised that I got to sleep through the night, there was a building power shutdown for work and I figured I would get at least one call. My phone stayed quiet, and when I checked my work email I found the "all clear" had been given at about 3am. Excellent!
I checked my personal email, and found that my friend Jay was coming to run some hills in Arlington. We had been trying to get our schedules to align with no luck, and at last check he was going to do his hill work on Saturday. I had 14 miles on my schedule, with 6-8 one mile repeats at the track and road work to make up the balance. I planned a split session, and was going to head to the track for some soggy laps after breakfast.
I was ready to head out the door, when my cell phone rang. Apparently the seamless powerdown/powerup wasn't as seamless as originally advertised. Spending 9:30 until noon on a conference call has a way of throwing a wrench in your plans, but I could still squeeze my plans in. After lunch, I would drop the kids off and head for the track.
After lunch, the kids presented the best Father's Day gift EVER. It was an amazing scrap book like they used to give the honorees on "This is Your Life". I was completely blown away, it was so good that even if the rest of the day went straight to hell it was going to be a great day. It's nice to have that ace up your sleeve.
As we were driving to the meeting place, I got a call from my ex saying that she was stuck in traffic leaving the Cape. She has enough stress in her life right now, with her mother in a nursing home and her father in Leahy Clinic recovering from surgery. Even if she made it to the meeting point, she would have to choose between visiting her father or getting my son to work on time. It would mean switching to Plan C for my track work, but I told her I would to make the two hour round trip to Manchester. I figured I would have just enough time to meet Jay at 3:45, and would do the track work after.
I was going to try to pick up some beer on the way home, but I passed a gas station at $3.97. Instead of the classic Guns vs. Butter choice from Econcomics 101, I had to weigh beer vs. cheap gas. I arrived beerless at exactly the same time that Jay pulled up. We spent the next hour and twenty two minutes trotting up and down the hills of Arlington Heights, talking almost the whole time. Almost all of my runs are solitary, and it was a very nice change of pace.
I scooted home at about 5:20, and made dinner for my mother. After almost nine miles of hills, sitting on the couch sounded like a nice way to spend the rest of Father's Day but I got in the Jeep and headed for the track. It took me just over an hour to put the finishing touch on the day's "simple' plan. I was really tired, but a mission accomplished tired is a good tired.
Not so long ago I would have let the necessary adjustments bother me, but with (rapidly advancing) age comes the wisdom to ignore some little things. Knowing that the most excellent Father's Day gift ever was waiting at home made it even easier to keep things in perspective.
