I Calendar

Caffeine, alcohol, exercise, smoking, eating, cleaning. These are all coping strategies used to deal with stress. Me? I calendar. I'm cringing right now as I make a noun into a verb, but oh well.

Last Monday I was feeling pressed to squeeze in 3 months of summer break into only 2 months of time. The temporary assignment as manager sucked up an extra three weeks of my life and left me feeling like time was running out. So what did I do? I made a calendar.

On my calendar, which runs from June 22 until August 27, is every event we have planned thus far. It includes bi-weekly soccer, weekly church services, camping trips, doctor's appointments, "field trips", story times, park dates, birthdays and work events. By the time I was done, I was encouraged and excited about my summer plans with Adam and Gracey.

This isn't the first time I've used the calendar as a coping mechanism. I made at least 6 calendars while serving as district manager -- weekly and monthly calendars. Whenever someone comes to visit, I make a calendar. When we go on vacation, I make a calendar. Every January, I fill in the calendar with birthdays, school holidays and annual events. And in 2006, when I was wrought with anxiety and fear, I made a 2007 calendar containing every "do not be afraid" verse found in the Bible.

A sister to the calendar, I also like to make schedules. For example, I had an 8-page schedule for our wedding day. Our pastor teased me because I only scheduled 7 minutes for the homily. But being a fellow Type A, he complied. I do this for vacations, too.

When we were dating, Scott called me "The Walking Calendar" because I could pull out dates easily. For example, he'd ask "what is the date of the last Monday in June?" And I'd reply "June 29." Or he'd ask, "what was the date of Thanksgiving last year?" And I'd know.

I'm not sure where this came from or how it started. But I love my calendars. I often keep them in case I need to refer back to them at a later date. They put my nerves at ease even better than diet coke, chocolate and shopping combined.