My column is due on Wednesdays and this week I had it all together and was ready to send it on Monday but that was only because I thought it was Tuesday. Boy! Two days early! I pictured my editor Joe Abraham, jumping around the Democrat office in glee. But somehow that idea got pushed aside until Tuesday which is still a day early which would just cause Joe to smile. I don't know what happened except to say that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

And here it is Wednesday.

Another saying about larger, more serious plans is the one about God having a sense of humor when he sees us planning our lives. I don't know if He really cracks up in laughter, but I get it. We are all set to go in one direction, and I have a sense of that, but then something totally unexpected happens and we are suddenly on a different course.

One direction I've written about in the past is the poem written by Emily Perl Kingsley called "Welcome To Holland” which is about parents expecting a baby and then finding, after it is born, it is disabled. They expect to land in Paris but find themselves in Holland and then discover that there are some wonderful things about Holland. If you've never read this poem before, make sure you have a box of tissues handy, even if you don't have a disabled child. And if you do, make sure you read it because I'm sure you will find it very helpful, as I have.

Back to the lighter side of life. Yesterday, late in the day, when it was finally cool enough to sit outside, I carried out two phones, some pens to write in my journal with, the journal itself, some old newspapers I hadn't gotten around to reading yet, two books I was in the middle of reading and some scrap paper to write myself notes on. I got out two cushions- one long and one short in case I wanted to change seats.

I could sit out there for a month before I would accomplish all of that. I had just gotten started when it started to sprinkle. Rain was not predicted, so how could this happen? I think I figured it out. God felt the need to have a good laugh.