By Shannon Williams
“If Plan A fails, remember you still have 25 letters left”
I love to make plans, it is almost a disease, as I just have to have a plan for just about everything, and I have to admit that I like to plan. I view myself as being flexible to change those plans, as there are just way too many things that can get in the way of a good plan. The past several months have seen many of my plans go astray, I was about to wonder if my guardian angel had gotten drunk and fallen down on the job.

It started in March, having a 95-year-old mother, I would often change plans if she got sick or if I was needed to help with her care. I had been looking forward to going to the Houston Rodeo and we had tickets to see Zac Brown. Mom had not been doing well and I had been back and forth to Lubbock a bunch of times since the first of the year. She took a turn for the worse and died the morning of the concert. I needed to gather myself and get to West Texas and really did not feel like going out that day, so we gave the tickets away. There would always be another chance to go to the Rodeo and see him.

April came around and I had plans to meet my cousin in Las Vegas to see Garth Brooks; we got our tickets months ago and we were going to celebrate her 60th Birthday. A few days before I was to leave, my cousin was hospitalized with a blood clot, well that put an end to that plan. We sold our tickets and ended up making a little bit of money. We have now applied those funds to go in September to see him and we got better seats. Ok, I am bummed, but so glad they found out what was going on with my cousin before we were on an airplane or walking around the Vegas Strip.

Next comes, May…. My son was not able to have a graduation ceremony from getting his college degree due to Covid. He has spent the past year going back to school to get his teaching certification. The school had told those who missed the graduation ceremony that they could take part in another one anytime in the next five years, so he decided to take part in the commencement on Mother’s Day weekend this year. Well, not to happen, he attended school in Northern California and a few weeks before the commencement was to take place, the protest against the war in the Gaza strip began to take place. You guessed it, the protesters tore up several buildings on campus and stated they would cause problems at graduation, so the ceremony was cancelled. Well I had hotel, airfare and everything all planned. I had even had t bowed out of my volunteer duties at Crab Fest. I was totally bummed as it was also going to be one the first Mothers Days I had gotten to be with him in several years. Well, one cannot be too grumpy at the crab fest, so I got over that and we scheduled the trip for another time.

Later that month, I had tickets to see Dana Cooper at Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston. I have been a Dana Cooper and Shake Russell fan since the late 70’s and have seen them several times. Well, we needed to babysit grandchildren that weekend , as my step son was competing in the regional CrossFit games for the first time in a few years. I cancelled that evening and babysat and watched my stepson win a spot at the World CrossFit games! He has been six times before, but this time his 2-year-old son will get to see him. The look on that little guys face watching his dad on TV was wonderful, so again, I did not mind the change in plans.

I was spared in June and got to go see Mac McAnally at Margaritaville and Shake Russell at the Old Quarter café, both were wonderful and brought back great memories of younger days. I thought the curse of the canceling sprit had left!

July rolls around and it is time for my trip out to see my son! Well, some little thing call Beryl had other plans. I was a total mess! I had all kinds of plans, starting with going to see the Bellamy Brothers at Margaritaville. (if you have not taken time to go and hear some live music there you are missing out). It was a great evening with good friends, great music and fireworks to been seen by all. The next day, we had a late Father’s Day and had Paul’s kids and grandkids down for a beach day and was that a ton of fun! I was supposed to leave Monday night for the West Coast. We had watched the weather reports non-stop and decided that I should change my flight from Monday night to very early Monday am. We reserved a room at the airport and our plan was to leave Sunday night and I would get out ahead of the storm. Well by Sunday midday, the storm was on her way and it was to hit right as I was going to take off, so I cancelled those plans and worked to get new flights for later in the week. That was a trick in itself, But Wednesday I got on that plane and several hours later got a great big hug from my son. I really was in shock that it all worked out.

It turned out to be better, as we were able to visit and not have places to be. We had the best visit, we went to a street fair, a wood league baseball game (Humboldt Crabs) shopped at used bookstores and small funky shops. We cooked, we ate out and we just hung out, it was a great visit. The earlier plan had me home by the 15th as that is when my work gets busy as the reports are coming in and I have to do my part. I just went ahead and stayed a full week, even though it would put me back on the 18th, I just worked extra hard to get it all done.

So as I look at the plans I have coming up, Astro Baseball game, Lion King at the Hobby Center, The Gatlin Brothers and Mavericks concerts, The CrossFit games and the rescheduled trip to see Garth (and now we are also going to see the Eagles as we were going to be there anyway, so we had to get those tickets), I know all of the plans may not work out, but you never know want might replace them !! So don’t be afraid to plan, several times if needed.

I have included some pictures of some of the fun, (street fair, baseball game, family after beach day, and eating out without it being 100 degrees and bugs everywhere!) and a picture taken from my son’s house, he lives in the mountains with a view of the coast line, it is the best of both worlds.

[SW: Jul-30-2024]