Unscheduled Appointments

I'm remembering an unscheduled appointment that changed my life pretty dramatically.  Thirty years ago on October 25, right around 2:15, events started in motion that I still remember so vividly even now.  It started with a rather frantic phone call from someone looking to find my mother.  Very shortly after that, Mom called and said, very simply and plainly, "He's gone."  With those words, I learned my Dad had slipped beyond the boundaries of Earth and joined the ranks of Heaven.  I think about his passing every year, but this being thirty years from the day he died, it's kind of an "anniversary milestone".

And it got me thinking about appointments.  They are the result of planning, for the most part.  Some are more meticulous than others when they set and track appointments.  Some make them and then completely forget about them until they get a reminder message (or are late).  They come in all types, some that I make and some that others make for me.  But they share a common trait ... they are planned interruptions asking me to focus on something specific.

But then there are the unscheduled appointments.  The "curves" life throws at us with little or no warning.  Maybe they are pleasant surprises (the party my wife threw for me on October 24th thirty years ago certainly was) or perhaps they force us to make decisions we'd rather skip or at least put off.  The only constant, from my perspective, is that they happen ... and they happen to all of us.

That's part of life on the Crooked Path.  It isn't that old straight and narrow one from the Sunday School lesson.  It's a winding path full of rises and valleys.  It forces us to trust in our Divine Brother as guide when we can't see what is around the next bend.  It's a journey of faith and experience and it's really more enjoyable when we can't plan every step.  It's a wild adventure where our Father invites us to follow and trust, even though the unscheduled appointments break our hearts.  It isn't easy; it is messy; and it's definitely worth it - scheduled or not.