Calendaritis

FALLS CHRUCH–We have a centralized family calendar (via iCloud) in which we keep all of the events we have to know about. In addition to the things we add ourselves, we have links to the kids’ school calendar feed, the Little Man’s baseball calendar feed, and the Cub Scout troop calendar feed. It makes for a busy-looking calendar, but we are used to that.

What we are not used to is the dynamic changes that ripple have been rippling through our calendar, making it virtually impossible to keep track of what is happening when–and where; changes that are in large part wrought by the weather.

Take this weekend as an example. The calendar tells me that the weekend begins with the Little Man’s baseball team photos at 9:30 am. Okay, fine. At 11 am, we have a baseball game. The game was originally scheduled for a field that takes about 20 minutes to get to from our house. This was important to know because the Little Miss has her dance recital–which she has been working hard for–at 1 pm, and it’s a bit of a hike from the baseball game to the recital.

Yesterday, however, the location of the game was changed to a field much closer to our house. That does make things a little easier getting from game to recital, but it is confusing as hell to remember. Even though our calendar is up-to-date (I am looking at it as I write this), I still think in my head that I am supposed to go to the farther baseball field.

After the Little Miss’s recital, we have a few hours before we have to suit up for the Little Man’s soccer game. This is the first spring where we decided to try baseball and soccer at the same time. (Usually, we reserve the spring for baseball and the fall for soccer.) Our soccer games are all at the same place, also close by, which is good. But there is also a reminder on the calendar that it is our turn to supply the snacks for the soccer game, yet another thing we have to remember to do.

Sunday, of course, is Mother’s Day. Kelly reserved tickets for a tour of the Ford Theater in downtown D.C. That’s at ten o’clock Sunday morning. Early Sunday afternoon we are attending a Mother’s Day brunch with several friends. The place where we are having this brunch is the same place we had a “burger” night a few months back. They were woefully unprepared for the crowds. From the time I ordered our food until the time it arrived, nearly an hour and half passed. I can only imagine what it will be like on Sunday.

We have had a lot of rain this spring. So much so that we’ve had at least four rain-outs of baseball and soccer games. That means that things that were originally on our calendar for one day, and around which we planned other things, get moved to another day. As we tend to plan things well in advance, that means there are conflicts, or at least, plenty of tight spots. One rain-out was rescheduled for this Sunday afternoon during our regular baseball practice time. But it was on the calendar fleetingly. It turned out the time didn’t work for the other team. So now, we’re back to just a baseball practice on Sunday afternoon.

Both soccer games that have been rained out have been rescheduled for June. The rained out baseball games are being rescheduled for later in May. They are even asking folks availability on Memorial Day weekend. We’ll be out-of-town. And guess what? It is supposed to rain all day Saturday so both our early baseball game and late soccer game will likely be rained out, leaving the calendar in tatters. It also means trying to squeeze in yet two more games somewhere in our already crowded schedule.

Granted, this is unusual. But the combination of soccer, baseball, dance, and weather make waking up and looking at the day’s calendar a bit stressful–to say nothing of uncertain. I just peeked ahead and the next weekend day where there is absolutely nothing on the calendar is June 24. Anyone want to take bets on how long it is before that day fills up, too?