A Note About Timing

I really don't like being late to things.  And by "things", I mean appointments/meetings/church.  Other things like parties, work, visits -- I'm a lot more carefree and loose with my time. 

So this post is all about scheduled appointments. 

And I think I'm in the majority when I say, yet again, that I don't like to be late.  In fact, it can make me pretty stressed and uptight when I'm late --

--but I realized last week that I feel even more upset when I'm EARLY!  I hate to use the word hate, so instead, I really, really, really, really dislike being early to appointments.  When I get somewhere early, or I know I'm going to be early, all I can think is "WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!!  I actually had time for  (insert necessary chore, extra errand, or mindless entertainment here) !"

And then I realized that this mentality is actually what causes the lateness that causes the aforementioned stress.

Here's what goes on in my mind:

Okay, we have to be at the dentist at 1, so that means that we have to leave the kids' school at 12:45, which means that I have to pull up to the school at 12:42, so I need to be in the truck at 12:32 at the latest.  Which means, given that I'll be home from aerobics at 10:25 and then I need to shower and get ready (10:50 if I don't linger or do my hair), so then I can still vacuum, write a report, start dinner, and run one errand...

...see I like to plan it to the minute, but things always take longer, or I add an extra thing (oh - facebook!  or an email!  or 10 emails!  or start some laundry!), so then it's 1:10 and I'm frantically pulling into the dentist's parking lot and making the kids jump out of the slow moving truck!!  (jk to that last statement)

BUT -- if being 10 minutes late meant that I was able to fit in that one last thing -- it's still better than being early.