Vol. 137 - Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth
On Mike Tyson and sick kids.
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
It’s a famous quote from Mike Tyson. Well, it’s famously attributed to Iron Mike, but it was actually Joe Louis who said something similar first. And though the concept is, in their terms, specific to a boxing match, it applies to so many different things in life.
For me, right now, it’s a quote about parenting.
Because today, I planned to finish and file a story I’m writing for the BBC (my first for them!), to do some boring administrative stuff that takes up too much of my time (like trying to get people to pay me), to get at least an hour in on my bike, to run to the post office and Lowe’s, to start prepping the house for some weekend guests, and maybe, if there was enough time, to squeeze in a half hour of the movie I’m currently watching (The Brutalist. And yes, given my current season of life, I only watch movies in half-hour bursts).
And then, like a punch in the mouth from Iron Mike Tyson, my son woke up sick and is staying home from school. If I’m lucky, I’ll knock two of those things off my list.
Because one thing no one tells you about parenting is how quickly and how often your best laid plans can and will go awry.
That’s all I have time to write today. My sick kid needs cuddling.