When it comes to time, there are three types of people in this world: Those who are always early, those who are always on time, and those who are always late. Those of you who are always late can drive those of us who are always early a little crazy. The fact that we are always early for everything probably means that we are just a little bit crazy anyway. I am one of those early people who is happily married (most of the time) to a man who is an on-time person. Let’s say, for example, that we are supposed to meet friends for dinner at 6:00 p.m. at a restaurant which is a 15 minute drive from our home. At 5:00 p.m., I am putting the finishing touches on my hair and makeup. He is watching television, dressed in shorts and an old t-shirt. At 5:15, I am sitting with him, tapping my fingers nervously. “Aren’t you going to get ready? You know we have to be there at 6:00,” I’ll say. His answer is always the same: “Yep.” At 5:30 p.m., I am ready to go. Yes, it is only a 15 minute drive, but what if we have a car trouble/get lost/have a flat tire? My finger tapping increases, partly because I can’t help it, partly because I think it will get him up and moving. It doesn’t. At 5:43 p.m., he sighs, puts down the remote, and heads to the bedroom to change, emerging at precisely 5:46, giving us exactly one minute to get to the car and only 15 minutes to make the 15 minute drive to the restaurant. But what if we have car trouble/get lost/have a flat tire? Well, we never have. If I were going to dinner without him, I would have left the house with plenty of time to spare, then waited in the restaurant lobby, nervously tapping my fingers and waiting for the others to arrive. I spend a lot of time waiting. Thank goodness for cell phone games. They are really helping me to get rid of that nervous finger tapping habit that I have. Now for the other early birds who have friends or spouses who are always late, I can only give you one word of advice: Lie. Tell them that the appointment is 30 minutes earlier than it really is. It is very important, however, to remember the correct time of the appointment, or you will most certainly drive yourself crazy by getting ready even earlier for something that you were already getting ready early for. Make sense? No? Don’t worry about it. You can’t fix them any more than you can fix yourself for being early. They will probably be late for their own funerals. I don’t know about you, but I really hope that I’m not too early for mine.
I’ve been more of an early person lately. When the kids were small I was always on time without them or running late with them. Way back in middle school, I was always late. My Spanish teacher taught me a valuable phrase on the first day of school: “Mas vale tarde que nunca”. It means “better late than never”. She said that I could get out of any small “tardy” issues in the class by uttering those words on my way in the door. She didn’t make me any better at showing up on time; but she did a great job of teaching that one phrase! It’s been 40 years and I remember it as if it were yesterday.
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I love it! Thanks so much for reading, plus the pleasant comments you always give. I appreciate it so much! I am not always a commenter, but believe me, I always read and enjoy your posts.
Chris
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I’m finally on the mend and just sitting down to write one now! Thanks Chris!
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I have learned in the past couple of years that if I have a fifteen minute drive to an event, I cannot be on time if I’m picking up my things to leave the house fifteen minutes before the noted time. Finally, I am now an “on time” person, rather than five to ten minutes late everywhere I go.
My favorite story about “being on time” comes from many years ago when I was a working twenty-something. One colleague of my boss’s was chronically 30 to 60 minutes late. Finally, the administrative secretary to the boss took matters into her own hands, simply telling that colleague’s secretary that appointments were for thirty minutes earlier than they really were. This worked well for several months. One day, though, Mr. Always Late actually showed up thirty minutes early for an appointment. After many questions and a phone call or two, we learned that HIS secretary was ALSO adding thirty minutes earlier to the time… That day, he had resolved to be EXTRA on time… and the cat was out of the bag on everyone.
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Oh, that is really funny! Taught him a lesson, I’ll bet!
Chris
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