Planning takes, well, planning.  Some people are born planners. Off the cuff someone says we should have a family reunion and the planner of the family steps forward with a remarkable list of ideas and plans.  The time, the place, the dates, the food, the places to stay, the—well you get the idea.  Every minute of the event has been planned even before the rush of air from the first utterance of the idea has had time to settle into everyone’s ears!

Me? Not so much with the planning.  I’m a more seat of the pants kind of gal.  That has good and bad connotations.  The good is the spontaneity. Spontaneity once got me to a spot next to a movie star at a red light at the corner of Highway 93 and the Pioche Highway, where we shared a few onion rings before the light changed. It was pretty cool.  But on the other hand that same dickens of spontaneity landed my husband and I in what could only be called a true roach motel where the people next door kept whispering as we went in and out of our room, “Pssst, you got any cigarettes?” It was creepy to say the least.

Not to say planning isn’t important. Why without planning where would weddings be? I recently talked to a mother of the bride about the upcoming festivities she and her daughter, the bride, were, well let’s see what would be the right word here…They were planning yes, but more than that they were excavating the minefield that had become the planning arena.  I wanted to fix her a cup of chamomile tea and give her a very large cinnamon stick to chew on.  I only saw her side of what was going to be a massive event blowing a major hole in the side of the bucket her and her husband had so faithfully filled with moolah to retire on.  I could just imagine the bride at home surrounded by magazines and mounds of paper listing ideas printed off of the internet. The mother did put her foot down about spending $6000 for a twenty two—yes twenty two layered 9 foot tall cake covered with orchids flown in, apparently first class, from Hawaii!  Okay that was a bit of a stretch.  But it was a big, big cake.

Ah! But weddings are not the only event that takes planning.  And women are not alone in going overboard and sinking up to their noses in muck when planning.  Guys take the plunge occasionally too.

I heard tell of a man who after working for many years in a company that drove him to retirement had begun to plan a trip to, as the sailor says, “to see what I could see.”  This new retiree and his wife of over 30 years were going to get into and RV and skitter about the country.  Going hither and yon, to and fro, here and there. Uh, mostly there. The plans were set in motion. The RV was bought at one of those RV tent events.  You know where you get sucked into the excitement of all the pretty new shiny toys? Well seems that the new RV was a bit more than the current truck could tow so a new truck was next on the list. New truck, new RV check and check.

Next came the wife who had the opportunity, well task, of spreading out her house equipment into now two houses since the RV was so large it became like a second home.  So she began to fill the cupboards, closets, storage spaces, compartment under the stairs. Yes it had stairs. While the man was outside planning his trip and filling the outside compartments with all matter of equipment he was going to need to be comfortable along the highways and byways of the USA. The two met occasionally going in and out of each of the houses.  Giggling and winking. Then…

Well let’s say that two things happened.  First a tire blew on the RV from the weight of all the necessities the two of them put in, of course she was to blame. Do we really need 12 lead crystal goblets, he asked? She remarked that two complete tool boxes each weighing about 60 lbs. a piece, one on each side of the RV was a bit over the top.  Then, as they collapsed into their assigned easy chairs the phone rang. Their daughter who was in college was calling to tell her parents she was getting married and would they help pay for the wedding she was planning?

Trina Machacek lives in Eureka, Nevada.  Her book ITY BITS can be found on Kindle.  Share your thoughts and opinions with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com