Schedule that in?

July 4th! How DID the year get to be half over already, without us noticing? Or, maybe you paid closer attention than I did. Regardless, it's been a good first half. I had a great 4th of July weekend, and hope you did, too. But, with 4 days *off* and I was going to get all kinds of stuff done -- build a web page or two, work on several projects, do some yard work (yuck). But, at the end of the four days, I had almost NOTHING done that I had planned. Four wasted days, right? Man!

A few weeks ago I was planning an evening out -- dinner and a movie -- with a lady friend. BTW, folks, I . . . am a planner, complete with 3 pound Franklin Planner system & Palm Pilot with "forever" calendar. It's a compulsion So, being the planner, -- and also wanting to make sure we had a good time -- I sought to find out when we would get together, since we both had crazy schedules. We found an open day a couple of days out, then I needed to know,"okay, where do we want to eat? What time do you want to eat? What movie, and shall we see the movie first and eat later? or eat first? Do I meet you at your house, or would you prefer to meet at mine or the theatre, or would you ra..."

My friend cut me off, looked me dead in my ear -- okay, we were on the phone so that's the closest I can come to a visual for what happened -- and said to me: "Have you ever heard of being spontaneous?" I said, "Of course, I've heard of being spontaneous; but I usually have to schedule that in !"

I could hardly believe I said that, but I did! Schedule in SPONTANEITY! Wow! Well, we had a good laugh over that, and I lightened up (a little), and we eventually got together and had a nice, relaxing evening. But we do! We get all wrapped up in our pursuits: our pursuit of happiness, our pursuit of money (which some people think is happiness), and we get wrapped up in the pursuit of our day-to-day existence, and that's all good! But, we forget that there is "stuff" in life, that we can and should just STOP ... and enjoy -- our family, our friends, sometimes just "ourselves" and our own being, without the burden of having to think, or do, or be productive, or creative or. . . pursue; just for a little while.

So, did I really have a wasted weekend? Oh no! Sunday, I spent the afternoon with a photographer friend and his friends and family, at his lake house, dodging dueling thunderstorms, eating, laughing, talking and having fun. Monday, I spontaneously invited some friends over and we talked and grilled and ate and laughed. A couple of hours after they left, my brother, Melvin, eased into town (12:45 a.m.) from Allentown, PA and we hung out for a while before retiring for the evening. The next morning we got up and had coffee "on the veranda" as he calls it -- I call it the deck on the back of the house. Then, we collected my "spontaneous" friend and went to breakfast, entertained several people in the restaurant (my brother is as nutty as me, and one of the other customers actually came up to us to tell us how much they enjoyed his laugh). Later on, I introduced him to a couple of other friends.

I have to tell you, folks, I love to share my brother with my friends. He is such an awesome person, has a heart of gold, and he makes me feel like I'm his hero. Me! L'il old Kelvin. There is nothing that I could have done on the web or the computer or via email that day, that could have made me feel better than the time I got to spent with my brother-- because we don't get to do that very often. So it was not a wasted weekend at all. It was great, and spontaneous, and rejuvenating.

Last Thursday night I had another spontaneous moment -- I went to the movies and saw "CLICK" with Adam Sandler. It was spontaneous because we decided at the last minute to go see a movie, and we didn't decide what movie we'd see until we were there. As it turns out, "CLICK" was an excellent choice and I highly recommend it to EVERY really busy person out there, with SO much to do that they're too busy to be SPONTANEOUS! Adam Sandler had a universal remote control -- you know the ones; you've seen them in the email jokes -- that helps him control his environment: fast forward through stuff you hate, pause to stop an argument, etc. etc. Schedule it in -- make it an appointment, to see that movie. Prepare to laugh, prepare to be touched, and prepare to think.

And you know, ladies and gentlemen, if you really ARE that busy... making an appointment with spontaneity is not a bad thing to do. Put it in your planner -- make it an appointment. NEXT SUNDAY, between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. make an (unbreakable) appointment with yourself to BE SPONTANEOUS! and during that time, do something FUN, goofy, relaxing. Drive somewhere you've never driven, have your family write some choices on the ground and throw some change in the air and do the thing that the most coins fall close to -- then have fun getting the money back before your kids get it all. Heck; make it fun. THROW $20's ! instead of change:-D. Do SOMETHING. . . to allow your psyche to relax, and appreciate the things around you that you -- we -- miss every day, because we're too busy to notice.

Take some time along the way to your success to have fun, so when you get there. . . you'll remember how to enjoy it.

Those are my thoughts for today.

As always, thank you for e-listening, & I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback