One of my favorite sit-coms is Modern Family. My husband has referenced me as "Claire", one of the main characters many times. And quite often I quote the show by asking my husband, "What's the plan, Phil?" This seems to have come out of my mouth constantly as we navigated our adult years together. I honestly cannot imagine how people go through life without a plan A, plan B, and sometimes even a plan C. Even if the plan was never carried out, there must be at first a plan.
Growing up, we had fire drills. The alarm would go off. Teachers would shift into robot mode as we slowly stood from our desks and formed a single file line at the door. She would then grab her clip board and lead us out to the designated exit route to reform our line on the playground. We had to walk through this plan about three times a year. There was never really a fire, but the idea was that in such an event we would be so accustomed to the plan there would be no panic.
We have always had hurricane evacuation plans in place were that Category Five to barrel our way. We have contraflow and marked highway signs pointing northward. We even review ed with our own children the "stop, drop, and roll" technique if one night the smoke detector began to beep. These came out when I was a little girl, and I will never forget the time my grandma Brannan told us about the first time it unknowingly went off due to an old battery. She had no idea what the awful noise was rattling her windows, so she assumed it was St. Gabriel blowing his horn to bring her home. Apparently, Grandma even had a plan for this because she dropped to her knees in front of the recliner and began to pray.
Always have a plan. Some of our great leaders have been known for quotes on this issue. Benjamin Franklin said, "By failing to prepare, we prepare to fail." Abraham Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." And John F. Kennedy said, "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." Know the drill, know the route, know the plan.
After living over half a century, I have come to believe the best reason of all to have a plan is because likely what you plan will not look anything like what ends up happening. Will we remain in a calm single file line if smoke is bellowing out the windows? Will we calmly wait in line behind the cars and trucks sticking to the chosen evacuation route? Will we even sharpen the axe or just barrel right around the tree and keep going?
With four children Clay and I never did get the chance to practice "planning" a family. And we never did have a solid plan; as they grew up that fell magically into place. I burnt the chicken that was supposed to be dinner. Clay ran over a nail with the lawnmower. The dryer popped a belt. Taxes were twice what we had projected. Braces were needed for what looked like straight teeth. Fevers crept up in the middle of the night at the beginning of a weekend. The dog threw up all over the new rug which started a contagion of little boys throwing up on it also.
What's the plan, Clay? Perhaps the art of making plans is to give you that foundational calm when all goes awry that there was in some distant memory a plan about what to do if this ever were to happen. And while the subconscious is trying to dig it up, the frontal lobe goes to work getting by. And then you laugh remembering "mother said there would be days like this" and you move on with future plans for the uncertainty of tomorrow to be a given. You can plan on it.
