A few weeks ago I blogged about my introduction to GPS, and the calm and unflappable GPS lady who takes changes and challenges in stride, every time.  I am going to begin with the paragraph I wrote as my ending to this blog.   I can be as glib as I want to be sometimes, however:

“Re-Calculate” also reminds us to look around us, take a breath, and re-calculate how we approach our lives and how we care for those around us.  In the last few weeks I have witnessed close friends face great life challenges and sorrows with grace and love and kindness, and simple requests for prayers and thoughts.  So this last week of Advent, make sure you are valuing what is most important to you and your family, and if you’re not, it is time to Re-Calculate.     

     Other instances of Re-Calculate Re-Visited, because things don’t go as planned, or are just sort of complicated: 

     Our conversation last weekend – Who is going to our niece’s Holiday show and who is going carolling with the Junior High School student and band?  2 events, same time.  My oldest and I carolled, the other three went to the show.

      Had a party a few weeks ago now.  48 hours before the party started, my Evite Reminder told me via email that I had 25 yes, 7 no, 11 not yet replied, and …. 25 maybe.  I understand.  This time of year, I often reply “Maybe”, as we are pulled in multiple directions.  But as the hostess, I had a moment of panic – how do you feed a “Maybe”?!  But I re-calculated the menu items and amounts,  and the 43 people who were at the party seemed to have a great time! 

     Every child sized t-shirt was dirty last Thursday.  The white laundry always build up.  To avoid bleach damage, we do it last after all other laundry is done and put away.   The other laundry was clean, though not put away, but the whites, not so much.  We Re-Calculated, improvised.  Summer t-shirts under long sleeve school shirts work just as well.  Whew!   And then I finished the laundry! 

      I don’t wear jeans often, so I only own one pair.  Yes, just one pair, but I love it.  The Re-Calculate part comes in when, during the busiest time of the year, I find a small hole in the, ah, rear of the jeans.  I apparently sat on something, as it is not a normal wear-and-tear sort of hole.   These particular jeans come from a store not remotely close to my house, so shipping them would probably get them here faster than me going out to buy them.  Re-Calculating …  I embraced Free Shipping Friday last week, ordered 2 new pairs (and got a great deal!), and moved on.

      I was on my way to a client’s house, pondering my to-do list, and I noticed all the stores I pass on the way to her house.  Got some errands done on the way home!

      An ordered item has not come in the mail yet.  It needed to be added to a different box and shipped out to a family member far away yesterday, to get to the loved one in time for Christmas.  Re-Calculating…. Don’t know the answer to this one yet.  I’ll get back to you!

     Over the weekend, my husband asked if my spiritual women’s group would be getting together around the holidays.  I said “Yes”, he said “That will be nice.  Where this year?”  I said… umm… “Here!”.  He just smiled, shook his head, and left the room.  I guess that was his Re-Calculate.  The get-together was small and lovely, and went well.  

     Set my IPhone Pomodoro timer for 10 minutes this morning, and attacked my reading pile.  As a product of this busy time of year, I had magazines from November still unread.  Also in the pile were catalogs, local weekly newspapers, health newsletters from area hospitals and our insurance company.  The Re-Calculate part?   What am I really going to read in that 8 inch tall pile of stuff?  It was all pertinent when I first received it, but not nearly so pertinent now.  I no longer care about having the best thanksgiving ever, or making crafts with leaves and sticks.  Done and done.  I also tossed the business magazines from November – it’s old news now, and I need to make room for new news.  I finished my shopping last week, so the catalogs went away.  I do care about the magazines dated for January, though I won’t read them yet.   And since I am still tweaking my menus for upcoming parties,  the cooking magazines and anything dated December made the cut for today’s reading!   So, 10 minutes later, 3 ½ inches of paper went in the recycling bin, the January reading went back up in the magazine holder, and the rest sits next to me for browsing. 

Be ready to Be Flexible and Re-Calculate when necessary!  Have a Blessed Christmas.