Adjustment...

I am a grid person. This morning I just completed my grid for the family visit over Christmas.  All arrival/departure dates, meals and snacks are entered.  I'll post this 2013 Christmas grid on my refrigerator.  Everyone will know what is planned so they can help with preparation.

I planned for family to come over a three week period the end of December and beginning of January.  I had the shell of my grid ready.

• Nissa would come this Saturday so Paul and Aubrey could be picked by their dad for Christmas break. Nissa would leave Sunday morning early. The plot was on for a nice adult dinner with Nissa, Claude and me on Saturday evening.
• Next week Jake would arrive Monday night. The Marx would arrive in time Tuesday night for a big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Jake would leave Thursday late afternoon and the Marx's would leave early Friday morning.
• The weekend of January 4th, Nissa would return to pick up Paul and Aubrey from their dad.

Andie wanted to try and find an optimum time for the Mini's to come and visit with Paul and Aubrey. Hmmm...Let's find a way to make that work.  Andie needed to see if Michael was refereeing any soccer games before she could land on a real time for this to work.

Nissa called Wednesday to say she wanted to change her travel plans. There were reports of bad weather for her drive to and from Muskegon, Michigan. She would not come Friday after Paul and Aubrey got out of school. Then she would leave early Saturday morning in the hopes of being between storms.  That was fine.  I sent a text to Andie to let her know of the change. Andie confirmed Michael had a soccer game to ref on Saturday. This meant she and the Mini's would come over Friday night after their activities and be here to play with Paul and Aubrey Saturday morning before their dad came and picked them up. Good plan for everyone.

Thursday afternoon I get a call from Nissa on my cell phone.  My quick question as I answered the phone was, "You are still coming aren't you?"  I meant this in total jest.  Nissa's answer, "No."  Good grief!  I asked if she was serious and she confirmed she was indeed serious.  It seems the father of Paul and Aubrey was not going to come for reasons I choose not to share here.  (I just read a book by Herodotus about Ancient Egypt. He says that a lot and I suddenly felt like an ancient historian as I typed that!)  No visit them from Nissa and kids this weekend or the weekend of the 4th of January.

Okay, the really horrid part of this was that Nissa and Todd had just finished having an early Christmas with Paul and Aubrey since they would not be home Friday evening or at Christmas. Paul and Aubrey opened ALL their presents. Then they headed to bed. Then Nissa got the phone call from the kids father.  Now they would be home with no presents under the tree.  Good Grief!!

I sent Andie a text and asked her to let me know when I could call and we would talk. After explaining the situation to Andie, we agreed she would not come with the Mini's this weekend as they would be here in a few days for Christmas anyway.

It is all done.  I got up early Friday morning and boxed the presents I could mail to Michigan and put that box in the mail before going in to take Papa to the doctor.  The kids should now have a few items from us to open.  Jake will take the breakable items back to Michigan with him after Christmas and he and Nissa will coordinate the delivery of these presents.

Such a roller coaster of change.  There is great wisdom in learning to be flexible in life.  Sometimes it is just not fun.  Aubrey and Paul are frustrated they won't see little Elise.  Plans Nissa and Todd made had to be changed.  All will now be done in a different way but it will all work out.  And that is 'adjustment'!!  And...the grid is ready for Christmas.