Make the plan, but don't plan the outcome

That's advice I was given a while back that has served me well. This weekend was a good reminder of that lesson.

At 5:30 a.m. Friday, my car was packed with coffee pot, books, computer, papers, clothing and incidentals. A weekend of writing - REAL writing with my colleague at UT Pan American in Edinburgh. I planned to drive to McAllen and spend the weekend as we retooled a large manuscript we began a year ago. More than half way there, my car let me know it lost 25 lbs of pressure in one of my tires. The same tire I had 'fixed' two weeks ago at a repair shop while on another excursion. Sitting on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in South Texas, I had a sinking feeling that this planned outcome was not going to be.

I called my friend, canceled the hotel room, turned around and stopped at every gas station on the way back filling up said tire. Finally, I made it to my repair shop in Corpus Christi at 2:00 p.m. A call from the repair person provided the following revelation, "They missed a nail, Ma'am." Yup. For two weeks I've been traveling around with a nail that was not removed. How does someone "miss" a nail in your tire??

Weekend plans quickly changed. Now, I have some needed down time and rescheduled the trip to McAllen. I'll see a movie, spend some time with friends, go to the gym, work a little, take a long walk on the beach. At least that's the current plan - and you know what they say about plans.

The nail is removed. One that I've had in my tire for over 400 miles and never knew it was (still) there. When I think of the consequences, I know Someone was watching over me. I'm glad He knew the plan.