Swing for the Fence

I have adopted a (frightening) philosophy: set your goals low and feel good that you achieve them. You get to pat yourself on the back for doing what you set out to do. It is ok to do more than your goals, but you always know you will achieve specific goals for the day. However, when you do not accomplish the miniscule goals you set for yourself, you feel stupid. Yesterday was one of those days.


My goals or “must do” list for yesterday had only two things on it. Get Maggie to her 4:30 appointment on time and sign for a package that was about to be shipped back to the sender. (They tried to deliver it when Maggie was in the hospital.) Staying in the house all day made that easy. Or so one would think.

Up to the time we had to leave for her appointment, Maggie and I stayed in all day yesterday trying to get both of us healthier. I should have made this one of my goals, but it was not a “shoe in” so it did not make the list. I am happy to report that Maggie no longer needs supplemental oxygen during the day, hence staying in was a good decision.

The nurse arrived at noon and worked with Maggie while I went into our downstairs room, which houses the laundry and all the junk we do not know what to do with. I started throwing things out and filling boxes for donating. I was down three for three hours and finished the laundry too. Quite the accomplishment, and it was not even on my “must do” list.

Because I have a tremendous head cold, my energy was sapped. At 3:45 PM, I sat in the living room with a late lunch and promptly fell asleep in the chair. I woke up at 4:10 and had to scramble to get Maggie ready to go to her appointment.

I decided to leave a note and my signature for UPS to leave the package or deliver it to a neighbor. As I went to tape it to the front door, I saw the post-it note indicating he had already been there. ARRGH! He must have come while I was downstairs. The nurse was with Maggie on the main floor, but she never heard the door. There is always a suction machine or nebulizer going which makes it difficult to hear anything. It is also possible my doorbell did not work, it is a bit fussy.

That package will now be returned to the sender. I cannot worry about it. I did not order this stuff, one of Maggie’s therapists did. It was supposed to be delivered to the school or directly to him, but they shipped it to us. Now it will be another couple of weeks before we get them, but c’est la vie.

I had to shake off this dashed goal so that I could accomplish my other miniscule goal of getting Maggie to her appointment on time.

We were 10 minutes late.

Today my goals are attaining world peace and cleaning up the oil in the Gulf. I figure if I am going to fail to achieve goals, I might as well swing for the fence.