Plan To Fail

I'm going to embark on a gross gender generalization....frankly because this rings true for my life.

When I was somewhere between 7-8 my mom sat me down and we had the puberty conversation. After that convo, she gave me a "just-in-case" bag filled with "ladies items" that way I wouldn't have to make a run to the nurse's office. I'd be prepared.

Every year, along with the items on our school supply list, we, the kids, would get new umbrellas. Why? so we could keep it in our bags and never get caught in a rainstorm (there is an umbrella in my purse right now---it's sunny out).

Going to the movies?
Make sure you take a sweater, it may be cold.

Leaving the house?
Make sure you have an emergency quarter--in case you need to make a call. (Then it was make sure you have the 35 cents, then it was make sure your phone is charged and you have money in your pocket.)

Moral of the story?

My mother has always been a planner. She looks at things as they are and as they might be. She looks at an entire picture. Impulse, rarely happens.

Now G-money (as I affectionately call my dad). Just does what he's doing, when he's doing it.

If he needs an ingedient from the store he goes to go get the ingredient. There is no checking the fridge to see if we need milk first. Nope. Not happening.

If he's going on a trip and he has meeting for two days. He is packing clothes for the meetings. That's it.

If he happens to have several things lined up in one day, then he deals with them as they come along. There is no extraneous thought to switching up the order to conquer things in a 'practical' fashion.

If he wants to see a movie, he sees a movie. Short sleeves and all.

Moral of the story?

He handles life in a A-B-C fashion as it comes to him. There is no plan.

So....I am my mother's child 99.5% of the time. At some point, planning can overwhelm me, at then that good ole Godfrey (dad) kicks in and I say f-it and just do whatever. Sweets and I butt heads on this all the time. He is a selective planner. I'm selectively (read: next-to-never) impulsive.

Much to our chagrin this difference just seems to be multiplying my leaps and bounds.

Case-in-point, we had a work meeting 30 minutes south of home. Now, immediately following the meeting Sweets needed to go to work. In my mind, it was completely logical for him to pick out his work clothes and take them to meeting. I figured after the meeting I would just drop him off @ work, knock out some errands in the area, etc. and pick him up afterward. That way we wouldn't have to stop back @ home. Oh yea, the meeting was on Sunday...I had this figured out by Tuesday...of the week prior.

In Sweets' mind, it was an early meeting and it didn't make sense to try to figure out his work ensemble and the car situation, because he wasn't sure what he'd need to do after work and if sharing a car would make sense. He jumped in the car we went to the meeting, drove back to the house, he got dressed, and went to work.

He made it on time and I'm sure his personal coup was it didn't require any additional thought.

Absolutely infuriating!

I keep my life on track by using a calendar that sends me SMS/email reminders. I leave my house in the morning with several outfits for my various jobs, a possible gym outfit (on the off chance I'll ever get back there), and some lounge clothes in case I end up @ Sweets' house. I like to have what I need. I hate backtracking!

He leaves his house in the morning in whatever he's wearing.

UGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How can you live like that?

I just don't get it.