plan b

Sometimes it's hard to be happy when lots of things go wrong. Today was one of those sorts of days.
I woke up this morning and a little later my brother came in to let me know that our kitten left a couple presents for us in a place that was not the litter box. It was nothing short of a complete disaster. And the worst part was that you can't blame the poor little kitty.
The morning was spent cleaning, and you know, other interesting things, and let' just say I wouldn't want to have to relive this day (even though I really was not the head of the cleaning department today).
So after a couple hours, we went to Petco to find some hamster food since the poor little rodents are living on scraps (you know because of the storm - when you can't even get to the grocery store, there's no way you can get to the pet store). I'm starting to think that hamsters are really great pets. Who leave presents in their cages.
After yet another, incident, my mom and my sister took Shea to the vet. Apparently he had an infection of some sort, I believe, and it was also a combination of stress and too many changes. Cats don't like changes very much.
So I started thinking how this really isn't great at all. I was so excited to get a cat, and I had always heard that cats were so neat and tidy, and I didn't foresee any problems. I thought everything would go perfectly, as planned.
But sometimes there are roadblocks. Actually there are always roadblocks. Fate will always mess with your plans and things go wrong. Our kitty is sick, and instead of helping him, I was just getting upset that everything wasn't working out.
Perfection does not exist in the world, even if we think it might. We often describe things as perfect, but they often are not. So I guess it's easy to expect perfection, but it's hard to achieve. Plan A, while it may seem handy-dandy, often doesn't work out. Sometimes Plan B will have to suffice.
But it all depends on how you look at it. If I keep thinking things will be great all the time and never preparing myself for setbacks, I will never get very far. This year in swim team I really wanted to make a state cut. but instead I spent the season healing from shoulder problems. No state cut. But my Plan B was to heal and get better for next season, so i can make a state cut then.
Ten years ago, my parents probably never thought they would end up here in Georgia. But their Plan B worked out really well. Probably better than Plan A would have.
Workers, families, athletes, students, leaders, and average-joes face setbacks everyday. But by thinking of those setbacks as modifications to your plan, or challenges, they become less taunting and more surmountable.
Sometimes, settling for Plan B isn't the worst thing in the world. Plan Bs are what make us stronger.