Crisis Averted....

It's really funny to realize the little things that we cannot function without. Two days ago I lost my dayplanner. (For those who know me, they know this was a tremendous crisis.) Every year I get a new dayplanner at Barnes and Noble. Usually I get those nice bigger-sized ones that have the stickers and all the extra stuff in them, but this year I decided to pick a small one, because it would fit in my purse and it was a lot cheaper. The thought did cross my mind that it may be harder to keep up with because it was so small, but I thought "Nah, I'll be able to keep up with it, I'll make sure I know where it is at all times." Now, this is not just a dayplanner for me. I keep all birthdays, all the girls appointments (and Brian's appointments) and all of my appointments and things to do in it. I sometimes even plan out my week and give myself a different big task to do on the days that both of the girls are in school. I live by this thing. The next couple of weeks had all kinds of stuff in them - basketball games, doctors appointments, lunch plans and Brian's call schedule, etc, etc. Well, when I couldn't find it 2 days ago, I started to feel a little panicky. By the time yesterday came around and I had been without it for 2 days, I became a lot panicky. I looked everywhere- even ridiculous places that I knew it could not possibly be. I became suspicious of the girls, grilling them on whether they had seen it or not because I know how much they love to draw and write in my old planners. I looked in the same places 2 or 3 times, all to no avail. I just knew I had left it in my car, but I looked in it twice and it was not there. So, yesterday, I became determined to find it and after scouring the house- I decided it just had to be in the car. I went and looked very thoroughly and sure enough , it was under a few magazines in the passenger floorboard. Now, I feel a little silly expressing my abnormal attachment to something like my dayplanner- but as always, this little experience led me to think about how all of that relates to life. I am in such a hurry all the time. I have no patience, which only makes that worse. I wonder how much I have missed because I was going too fast to notice or because my mind was so focused on one thing I missed something valuable at the time. How many moments and memories have I denied myself and my girls and my husband because I was in such a hurry for some reason or another? I looked in that car twice and never found my dayplanner. It wasn't until I stopped and cleared my head and decided to really search that I found it- and it had been right under my nose the whole time. How many things are you searching for that are right under your nose and if you would just slow down, you would see what you have been looking for? I think we all lead such busy, hurried lives that the answer to that would be long lists. Ironic, all the time I spent looking for my dayplanner, I am sure I missed out on some ordinary blessings that come with daily life. I have learned that I need one specific place to keep my planner, and also to slow down a bit and enjoy what each day has to offer. Hey, if I didn't learn from my mistakes, they wouldn't be worth making, now would they?