Premeditating Procrastination

A while back, Luke had an interesting Facebook status. It said, "Luke is premeditating procrastination." What exactly does that mean? That he was not procrastinating at the time but was thinking about doing so in the future? He explained it to me, and while I'm not sure I fully understand, it was something like this: He was not procrastinating at the time, but thinking about the possibility of future procrastination made it easier not do it right then. So I'm thinking this sounds like a good strategy because I really don't want to grade this stack of essays sitting here on my desk. If I start grading them, but at the same time think about the possibility of future procrastination, I might get them done? It's definitely worth a try.

So there. I graded a few, six to be exact. And now I'm totally worn out. My eyes are blurred, and my mind is blank. It really wouldn't be fair to the author of the seventh essay for me to even look at it now, right? So we've left procrastination and moved to rationalization. Hooray!

Instead, I will do what I really want to do, report on my birthday which was yesterday. It was a nice day, fairly quiet, but nice. I awoke to Seth standing over me with a card he had made. On the card, he had drawn a picture of him and me hugging. So sweet. I came to school and logged onto Facebook where I found delightful birthday greetings from all sorts of people. These Facebook wishes kept coming in throughout the day and evening. Some came from the people I see all the time: my immediate family, Lindsey, colleagues from school. Others came from friends from the distant past, whom I rarely see but with whom I share treasured memories: Corrie, Becky. Others came from people I barely know: Elizabeth B. or even from those I've never met personally: Nancy. And then there were a bunch of others from all sorts of folks, chiming in to make my day special. How fun that was!

On my way home, I received a text message from Matt, saying "Happy Birthday!" and soon after, Shulamith called with the same greeting. Later in the evening, calls from Luke, Isaiah, and my mom, along with a text conversation with Celeste, rounded out the day. The funniest part of the evening was at dinner. I met Lindsey and her three babes at McDonald's. We do this often enough that it didn't seem different from any other day, but when we were about to leave, five-year-old Emma came and sat on my lap. She does this often, but today she whispered in my ear, "My mom told me something. She said it's your birthday." When I concurred, she asked, "How old are you?"

"How old do you think I am?" I replied. Her guess: nineteen! When I neither confirmed nor denied her guess, she insisted on giving me a paper flower that she had received in her Happy Meal. She said, "This one is for people who are nineteen." I love you, Emma.

So that was my day. The real fun comes this weekend when I get to go to Indiana and play with my two oldest children. And it's getting harder and harder to wait for Friday to arrive. So Luke...thanks for the extremely effective strategy. Premeditating Procrastination. You have discovered something great indeed.