The rush of the holidays was over, the New Year ushered in, and I was feeling pretty good about the preparations Grace and I had made for our Garden Club’s January meeting.  Since our area camellias were showing off their beautiful array of colors, we chose these lovelies as our theme.

I woke up with a real feeling of accomplishment that so much of the legwork had been done, and everything should fall right into place for an interesting and informative meeting.

I had the luxury of having everything ready so I leisurely washed and dried my hair, carefully applied my makeup and chose a cute outfit to wear. It was great to have things under control, and I smiled as I backed my vehicle out of the garage.

“So this is what it feels like to be ready ahead of time. I like it!”

My friend Joy loves beautifying with flowers and plants as much as I do, so she was trying garden club on for size. I wheeled into the parking lot of a local store on my way to get her. I needed to pick up a fruit tray, but soon discovered that my order had been overlooked.

At my look of exasperation the attendant kindly offered to make one up for me. The clock was ticking so I reached for my phone to let Grace know I might be a little later than I anticipated. That’s when I realized I had left my phone at home.

“What happened to my plans for having this morning go off without a hitch? I thought I would be there early today.”

After retrieving Joy I rushed back to the store. I barely got my vehicle in park before jumping out to run in to pick up my tray. Next, I promptly splashed water from the freshly washed fruit all over my cute outfit. The sweet attendant got some paper towels and put the tray in a plastic bag to avoid future mishaps.

Did I mention that we traded my old faithful red car for a white SUV? Do you know how many white SUVs there are in any given parking lot? I hurried to mine, but it wasn’t mine. Then I spotted mine and rushed past a truck only to have two rabid looking dogs snarl and gnash their teeth as I came near them. They tried their best to crawl out the window, and I don’t think they were after the fruit tray either!

I finally just chuckled at the ridiculousness of it all. I was reminded of the children’s book about a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day.

Joy and I arrived at the library to find that Grace had been able to find a way into our meeting room and get a good start on preparations. The speaker was fabulous, and no one has to ever know about the upheaval beforehand. No one except you, and it will be our secret.