No cupcakes and too many meetings!

Yesterday was one of those days… With an extremely busy week already, and a jam-packed day of meetings and classes, I walked into my late afternoon class, books, laptop, and notes in hand ready to engage my students in a dialogue about ancient cults, when suddenly I noticed on the desk two bottles of drink, napkins and cups. My countenance changed and a chill ran quickly down my spine when I realized that we were supposed to have a brief birthday celebration in that class for two of my students, both turning 21 (a big deal) and on that very same day. I had offered to bring cupcakes for the celebration while some of their classmates volunteered to provide napkins, drinks, and cups. It was all there except for my eagerly expected sweet offering. I understood well how parents must feel when they disappoint their children. My bowing down to them with what to me sounded like empty platitudes only made me feel worse in the end. They were both gracious and the celebration will resume on Thursday, provided I don’t forget the cupcakes, yet again!

Earlier on the same day, while on my way to a meeting, a text message comes in from a friend, “I brought my lunch and look forward to catching up. See you shortly” What? Yes, I had agreed to have lunch with a friend, but I was on my way to a small committee meeting that had to be squeezed in during lunch because another more important meeting was scheduled at the same time we were supposed to meet. Meetings, meetings and more meetings are throwing me off! I thrive under pressure, but something has definitely gone wrong this week. Maybe I need to upgrade and add more memory space in my brain for these last minute demands because they are indeed throwing me completely off! 

Got to go to, guess what, another last minute meeting!