Haste Makes Waste

Today was one of those days.  Nothing went according to the nice, neat little plan I had outlined on my Google Calendar.  The original agenda had me spending one hour in volunteering in youngest son's Math class, ninety minutes volunteering in the high school College Connection office and another hour transporting drinks to eldest son's tennis team.  The remainder of the day was to be spent doing something called "work" - the kind for which you are compensated.

My plans began to go awry shortly after the Math stint.  I was walking past the school office and noted two of my mom friends.  Walking in to say hello, I soon discovered that they were swamped with a weekly volunteer duty that is typically carried out by a team of seven moms.  For unforeseen reasons, only these two could volunteer today.  Of course I couldn't let them work all by themselves, so I jumped in and finished up ninety minutes later.  Just in time to head to College Connection...

That shift went well, according to schedule.  But the plans took a spin again when the bus that was scheduled to transport the tennis team to their away match failed to show up.  Another mom and I were pressed into service to drive the team to the match - a fifty minute drive away!  I could have said, "No, I have to go home and work" and the school's Athletic Director would have driven in my stead, but I wanted to be present for the league playoff match anyway.  My original plans would simply have been to drive to the match two hours later. 

I dropped the boys off at the tennis courts and took my SUV for gas (painful as that can be) and decided to treat myself to a diet soda.  I began fueling the tank, rushed into the station's mini mart, poured a big gulp, and ran back to the car.  I was in a rush to get back to the courts before the match started.  I jumped back into the SUV, threw the car into drive and began to quickly pull out of the station when suddenly I heard a crunching noise - yes, the hose to the gas pump, still firmly planted in my gas tank, was dangling from the back of my SUV.  In my haste, I had forgotten to remove it!!!  I ripped it clean off the pump!!!  Gratefully, no one was injured and there was not a major gas leak, but tremendous damage was done - both to my psyche and to the pump.

An Emergency "Underground Storage Technician" was dispatched to the scene and my vital statistics were taken down.  This nice gentleman informed me that this is indeed a very common occurrence - in fact another person had done it to one of his other tanks only twelve hours earlier!  The cost of the damage is still being determined.  Needless to say, I was late to the tennis match (which the boys lost) and that's the most expensive tank of gas I'll ever purchase.

This is the type of thing that happens to me about once per year.  In trying to be all things to all people, I spread myself too thin and do something incredibly stupid and counterproductive.  I'm certain that my high stress level today contributed to my forgetfulness and caused this bozo move.  The moral of the story is that I was trying to cram too much into a brain that decided to revolt.  Spreading myself this thin does no favors for anyone.  Lesson learned - we'll see if I can put it into practical application before the next case of "haste makes waste".

Best of the Blogs:
(recent posts related to today's topic of Family Life)

• Turn Gmail into an Always On Baby Book
• Digitize Your VHS Home Movies
• Five Ways to Cope When Your Child Returns to the Nest

Home-work for Today:

• Have some of your volunteer commitments gotten out of control?  Take a careful look at whether or not your service to others is doing a disservice to your family.

Comments

[Lisa Hendey]

Melissa,
I actually decided intentionally to share this story, even though it does make me look incredibly stupid. Maybe I can help someone else avoid making the same dumb mistake!
Lisa

[Melissa]

Oh Lisa. You poor soul! I have to admit when I saw the picture of the gas pump with your post I instantly thought, "oh, she was one of the people who got the bad gas in town." I never would have guessed what really happened.
Although ripping a gas hose off the pump has never happened to me, it's refreshing you are brave enough to share your story with the world. I'm always wondering when it is going to happen to me. Trust me, there are days I'm surprised it hasn't.
Thanks for sharing your story. Hey, atleast you will always have one of those great stories that will never get old....atleast to other people.
;)