Procrastinate or Prioritize?

It is a fine line between procrastinating and prioritizing. Elaine and I don't always agree on the difference.

Elaine has always been the person that can see the rewards of getting a task completed and moving on. Me? Not so much. I like to prioritize and get to certain things later. I'm not ashamed of my ability to put things off, I've actually have been trained to do so.

I was working for a house builder as a carpenter's helper in my late teens. Child labor laws make me hesitant to tell this story, but it was a long time ago.

My first day on the job I listened to my employer lay out what he expected of me. He said, "If you listen and do everything I ask we will get along fine. We set a goal everyday, our goal is the same everyday. Our goal is to go home at 4:30."

I lost track of time on my first day on the job. I was just too excited to be helping build a house. I was having a great time.

At 4:25 my boss walked up to me. He wasn't pleased. He said, "You don't listen, do you? You need to be picking up tools so we can leave at 4:30."

I tried to explain myself to him, "I thought I would finish this wall before I went home." It didn't calm him down.

He said to me, "Son, I have lots of things I like to do and I can't do any of them while I'm at work. If the wall you are working on is not here for you to finish tomorrow you wasted your time working on it anyway. We leave at 4:30. I won't tell you again."

It's hard to forget a life lesson like that. Elaine didn't work for my boss or any like him. She likes to get things done and over with.

With that in mind, Elaine decided not to wait to get a unpleasant task over with. Elaine decided not to procrastinate and visit the Emergency Room on the first day of 2015. I guess she thought there was not going to be a better time than January 1! I think I would have put that one on the low priority list and not be upset if I didn't get to it.

See, Elaine and I don't always agree.

Elaine decided 2015 was the year to revive her ice skating career. So far, it isn't going to well. Well, that may not be a fair statement. She did get in over an hour of skating before she broke her elbow.

I didn't actually see Elaine fall. I wasn't with her at the time. I decided to go out on my skis while the rest of the family skated. When I got back to the pond Elaine was taking her "you need to get back on the horse" lap. Elaine didn't realize her elbow was broken.

I did spend the evening with Elaine in the Emergency Room. We were amazed how short the visit was. We left the house at 6:30 and arrived back at home at 11:45. At the Emergency Room they took x-rays; couldn't see anything, told her to see a specialist, medicated her and sent her home.

We didn't get to go directly home. We needed to stop at the only pharmacy that was open on the holiday at that time of night. I needed coffee, so I stopped for a $4.00 latte that I think was left over from New Year's Eve. (Have you noticed I have difficulty keeping myself out of these stories?)

It will be 7-10 days before Elaine can skate again. Luckily, Elaine can knit. There was never any doubt, however, I was concerned when she asked the specialist about prosthesis. OK, I made that one up!

You guys have a great New Year. It would be OK to follow my lead and try to stay out of the Emergency Room. Elaine's methods aren't always great.

Our crazy lives!

Monner