the color of my nails

i just got a phone call.  from my doctor's office.  no. not as scary as it sounds.  only scary because i've gotten this kind of call before.  i missed my appointment.  the day, date and time.  i try.  everyday i try to do my best....to have a plan, ahead of time.  to work from the plan. i am religious about the planning....  and then, the phone call.  it's not that i'm worried about the appointment, it can be rescheduled.  it's that i'm just like this.

oh, put in on a calendar and stop whining, you say.  well, i do that.  i have lots of pretty calendars, lots of pretty datebooks and all sorts of doo hickies and devices that will set alarms and buzzers and pings that will alert me.  and i am alert.  it's jsut not at the right time or day.

today is wednesday....the 20th....of january...the year is 2010.  got it.  just one little problem. i thought today was wednesday the 19th....and that's the problem.  yesterday, i had to write a check.  i wrote the 19th.  later in the day, i heard someone say that it was the 18th.  i assumed that they were right.  why do i assume that other people are right.  i guess that's because i'm wrong so much of the time......on the dates. at least, that's what i'll admit to.

so, just before posting this blog, i sat clicking keys on my laptop and my phone.  i got a pretty colored marker, pink for february and valentines day month and began turning pages and writing.  i have, once again, made note of the date for my rescheduled appointment.

got that.  january 20th, wednesday, which i thought was january 19th, wednesday.  see, one day can make a difference.

take it from me, i know.  this kind of living is now something i take for granted.  some people would be flustered by this.  i am only flustered when i pick up the phone and hear the voice of the person i am planning to meet tomorrow.....because that's a sign....for me....it signals my brain immediately.  i freeze. i know. it's supposed to be today.

a day late and a dollar short.  what does that mean?  it sounds like it has something to do with scheduling though.

don't put off today what you can do tomorrow.  oh wait...don't put off today when you know that the phone call will come later...oh wait....don't put off anyone.  just do it.  that's probably how nike started.  someone like me had had enough mix ups.....hung up the phone and just stood there and shouted, "just do it!"

it's not my age.  i've been like this forever.  it's not my beauty...i have plenty of blonde highlights but i'm no dumb blonde.  maybe a few traits here or there.....maybe i'll give into the blondes have more fun thing but that's as far as i go.

i have a record.  not a police record.  not an album.  not a track record.  just a record and a long history of mishaps with dates.

the first date with my husband, i thought, was to be on a friday night.  we discussed the weekend and our best possible night for a date.  we talked again on thursday night, after skating.  i told him about a friends party on saturday night...we talked about that and we talked about friday night.  i left him thursday night thinking i would be seeing him friday night.  only, friday night, no biff.  hmmmmm.  i couldn't believe such a nice guy would stand me up. ooh, it bugged me.  why did i think he was a good guy. easy come, easy go.  oh, not so easy buster.  i called him.  i had an attitude.  he seemed so casual about blowing me off.  he was.  he wasn't the least bit apologetic. nothing. odd.  strange. wierd. nothing.  i finally said it was a shame to miss out on a nice date.

what? date?  today?  he was silent.  he finally spoke.  he told me that we had planned for saturday night.  he told me he thought we said saturday.  saturday?  the friend's party?  he was planning on going with me to that.  was he a day late or was i a day early?

thankfully, be both have alot of go with the flow in us.  or maybe that's what keeps our spark alive.  we never know what's next.

it's january.  i'm clear on that.  one week from today is my daughter's birthday.  i guess it's no surprise that the night before my first baby was born, i was out getting a manicure and a pedicure.  pretty color. pretty fingers. pretty toes. i sat at the nail salon, talking with some friends who were also there for some primping.  i talked about the baby to be's due date and all of the anticipation and excitement.

i had a long night ahead of me.  it was shortly after the manicure and pedicure that my labor slowly began..........i wasn't terribly comfortable for the rest of the night.......when an old friend called from california late that night, i was telling her about my discomfort.......she told me i was in labor.  o.k. biff and i were pretty intelligent people.......we had to have a friend call from across the whole country to tell us that i was in labor!

it's true. and the next morning, as we drove to the hospital.....in lots of discomfort....both of us...mine was physical....griff's was just a tad uncomfortable mentally.  new dad and all of that stuff.

when he called the doctor to tell him of our situation, the receptionist asked if we would like an appointment.  since i missed the appointment the night before.  oops. i missed the appointment.  my own doctor's appointment.  for the baby.  my baby.  the one that i was waiting for....for nine months......for my whole life.

i was supposed to have a doctor's appointment for one of the biggest events of my life.  i missed that.   for a manicure and a pedicure.

at the hospital, the midwife asked me why i missed my appointment.  i confessed.  although, i'm happy to say, the midwife and doctor did compliment me on the color of my nails.