Business travel booked. Bills paid. House cleaned. A busy morning, but I’d managed to complete my most pressing tasks. I breathed a sigh of relief. The summer is when the business I run with my husband requires the most attention, and church and family obligations fill my days. Sometimes I think my busy brain could use a personal assistant, to make sure everything’s covered. Then I looked at the clock. 1:31 PM. For some reason, the time made me uneasy. Is there something I forgot to do?
All I could think of was my appointment to meet with the party planner, Dianne, and the venue manager, Steve, at Paradise Gardens, a gorgeous, tropically-themed outdoor event and banquet space way up in northern San Diego County, where I was organizing the second anniversary dinner of my volunteer group. That wasn’t until 6 PM.
I pulled up my schedule. Sure enough, 6 PM, meeting with Steve. There were no events that day and the facility was locked, so he’d meet Dianne and me at the gate to let us in and show us around. Only… I’d jotted down my meeting with Dianne for 1:30!
Oh no. Slowly I realized my mistake. I’d given Steve the option of two times to meet with Dianne and me, and he’d chosen the later one. But I’d told Dianne 1:30. Now I pictured Dianne, after a long drive up there, standing outside a locked gate, wondering what to do.
I started to apologize the instant Dianne picked up her cell phone. She cut me off. “No worries,” she said, “Steve is letting me in. He must have expected me, he called me by name. You don’t need to be here, you’ve already told me what you want.”
Now I was confused. Maybe I did tell Steve 1:30?
Steve called later to say he had a nice meeting with Dianne. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” I said. “I was sure I told you 6 PM.”
“You did,” Steve responded. “I was waiting for another woman, named Deena, when Dianne showed up. I kept calling her Deena, but the names sound similar so she didn’t notice.”
“I hope it didn’t mess up your other appointment,” I said.
“Not at all,” Steve said. “Deena never showed up. I called, but couldn’t reach her. Not sure what happened.”
I had an idea. Someone had me covered after all.
