I DIDN'T PLAN IN THE BEES

There's a very good reason why the last ten days have seemed like a constant and uncomfortable rush of deadlines, occasonally punctuated by some restless sleep and/or some dazed looking around the home office wondering how it got like that.

It wasn't that some client deadlines unexpectedly converged, though they did.

It wasn't even that I compounded the problem by some overscheduling of my own, though I did.

It was that I didn't plan on the bees.

The bees, that is, that decided to make a nest under my house the week before last. I didn't know they were there at first, those stealthy little buggers, but by last week the buzzing was so loud I figured that something was up. Walking around the house I discovered a sizeable swarm flying in and out of the space under the foundation of my house. Being already short on time and highly allergic to bee stings, I did not take to this new tenancy kindly.

The owner of a local pest control company came out to the house promptly, and just as promptly eradicated most of the creatures (which, happily enough, turned out to be mild-mannered honeybees rather than their gangsta yellowjacket relations).

But the time used up making calls, finding the right company, making the appointment, and adjusting the schedule around both bees and bee-killing, not to mention an uneasy night spent wondering about the question "can the bees get inside the house somehow?" was just enough to throw everything else out of kilter.

The moral of this post is obvious. You have to plan on the bees. For bees, you can substitute: computer meltdown, spouse meltdown, flat tire, sick parent, tantruming child, tantruming client, sudden attack of scurvy, unexpected abduction by aliens, or [insert your most recent out of the blue crisis here].

In other words, you have to plan on the thing that can't be planned for. And then allot it at least a modicum of time.

When I'm at my best, I do this. I assume that something or other will go kerplooey and I make sure there is space and time to adjust. When I'm not at my best, I schedule to within a hairsbreadth of my maximum possible resources of time and energy.

And the bees get me, every time.