Why do they schedule things at inconvenient times?

On my way into work this morning I was listening to a DJ complain that he had missed a big football game this last weekend because his daughters Soccer game was scheduled at the same time. He was lamenting to the group that there should be more consideration in scheduling, he’s trying to be a good dad, he wants to be a good dad but it’s hard to be 100% a good dad when people don’t take into consideration scheduling of the parents.


I chuckled to myself at this – thinking back to when the girls were small and played youth soccer, remembering having to be at the field by 7am on Saturday and Sunday mornings for games and wondering who in God’s name was making the schedule? What person in their right mind gets a 7 year old up and out of the house to be somewhere that early in the morning and enjoys it? Needless to say the girls only wanted to do one season of soccer and thank goodness for that because as a young parent there was no way I could keep up with my partying at night and trying to make it through a game of screaming little people with a hangover.

Now that the girls are older, there’s a little more wiggle room to their schedules, but, we are still at the mercy of some nameless/faceless person dictating when we’re supposed to be somewhere and where that place may be. Every Sunday I look at the girl’s game schedule and try to accommodate dinner/social and general house plans around when they have to be somewhere. I then try to coordinate errands and meetings around the times and locations they will be at. Invariably a game gets rescheduled for a different time or location, or cancelled all together, or my absolute favorite the phone call from the child stating that their ride/coach/person has decided to stay for a later game and they won’t be back for hours past when I’ve scheduled all of said errands, meetings etc. I’ve learned to factor that into the equation, so as not to be completed screwed up on my own plans but I have to tell you I spend more time waiting for my kids then I’ve ever waited for anything else – perhaps with the exception of the 2nd coming of Christ.

This last week I was at the oldests' basketball game – it was nearing 5pm and I was trying to factor in dinner with a meeting later on in the evening when my phone rang. It was the younger one telling me they were going to be a little later getting back since the wanted to finish watching another game before the left. I said ok, hung up the phone and then realized that up until that point I had not thought of where my daughter might actually had been – I had forgotten about the game and assumed she was wandering around the campus or sitting with friends watching the game I was at. I quickly took out my calendar and pulled up my email and…there it was, and email from her coach - “Change to Schedule this week” - it had been sent late Sunday night. I suppose no harm no foul, but, it just proves that there’s no use trying to work or fight against the nameless/faceless scheduling system – you just have to roll with it.