"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!" ~ The White Rabbit

Well, I finally got my mental clock settled into "pre-Daylight-Savings-Time" mode.  For some strange reason, this year's time-change just flat messed me UP!!  I really don't know why.  Of course, the clocks always "spring forward" on a Saturday night/early Sunday morning...so - that first Sunday Mass is always a little "foggy".  But I'm usually able to shake out the cobwebs and get myself on track within a couple or three days.  Not this year.  We changed the clocks way back during Lent...and here we are, it's almost Ascensiontide, and I'm just finding my "groove"  My eyes opened, quite naturally, at 5:00 A.M. this morning.  The best and quietest part of the day...the time when I do my best thinking and planning.

Recently - Amy and I were given a good piece of advice by our good friend Dr. Will C.  Amy always calls Will "the Wise Old Owl"  He told us to relegate our "worry time" to one hour in the morning for each of us.  We are allowed only sixty-minutes to worry about stuff...then we need to stop and just trust that God's got the situation well-in-hand and just let the chips fall.   I try to say my morning prayers as soon as I get up....then I check my e-mail and my daily schedule.  My personal "worry hour" is from 8:00 to 9:00 A.M.  I had just a few pre-move worries today.  First of all, we didn't have the new brochures for the leasing of our Old Mill Road house (I was pretty sure they'd be here soon!).  I had to make myself a dentist appointment for between now and when we leave...ugh!  Also, we hadn't yet heard from Deloitte about the approval being given to the moving and storage company (you see, the coordinator is out of her office all week - and that can't be good!) - and they're supposed to start on the 17th - and - finally, as of this morning, we had not heard at all from them about the possibility of me working for the firm in some capacity when we arrive in India.  I got my dentist appointment made right at 8:00 when they opened.  I put it on our big master-calendar that now resides on top of the sideboard in the Dining Room.  Check that one off the "worry list"!! Then, I called the moving company and left a detailed message about the state of affairs here (frankly, the house looks like Hurricane Katrina just blew through...but there is a master-plan of organization to all of this madness, right below the surface!)... and asked them to call me back with a SIT REP (situation report).

Amy was up and getting in the shower just about the time my "worry hour" was ending.  It's like a relay race.  I think her "worry hour" is from 9:40 to 10:40.  I told her that I have everything under control today - at 7:30 I had dropped Beloved off at the groomer because she was getting the burrs out of her fur from our trip into the poppy fields of Lancaster - as well as her first of two pre-departure hair-cuts!  But one thing loomed and it was completely out of my hands. 

"I still didn't hear from anybody regarding my working-status in Hyderabad.", I said, "And frankly, I can't use up any more brain-power on the subject.  I'm giving it to God and He's just going to have to handle it!"  She agreed, I gave her a big hug and we assured each other that it was all going to work together for good.

There's an old Hindu saying:  "Do you wish to make Lord Vishnu laugh??  Tell Him your plans!!"

So...sure enough, within a half-hour of my turning it over to God...I head straight over to get a cup of coffee and update my Day-Planner ... a few blocks away, over at the Starbucks that is inside of our bank in South Pasadena.  This was handy, because I had "deposit check" on my list of things-to-do-today as well.  Just as I sit down with my coffee and newspaper...my cell-phone rings...and...wouldn't you know it... it's Deloitte, right on (God's) schedule!  They were calling to make introductions and to set up a conference-call for this week (I chose tomorrow at 7:30 A.M.!)  I'll probably never learn that what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount is true:  "And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?"  "They" say that the most used phrase in all of Scripture is "Fear not..."  Yeah...well...easier said than done, Lord!!  But I got the message today, loud and clear.  You've got this one covered!

So...while I'm out driving around, in between going to the bank, the cleaners and the post-office...my iPod (set on "shuffle") comes on with a blues tune by Jorma Kaukonen (the legendary lead guitarist for the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) called "Late Braking News"  Here are just some of the lyrics...a perfect song for a perfect day!!

"Well I've got stuff to do today...People to see and things to say ... Well don't you know I'm the CEO of all this business in my head...The puppet master pulling strings while I'm lying here in bed."