A few weeks ago, RM asked if I wanted to go to a Copa America soccer game at Gillette Stadium. On a Sunday night. Starting at 8:30pm…. Me, being the sports enthusiast that I am (I hope you can sense my sarcasm), wasn’t entirely thrilled about this, but since I know how much he loves soccer, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to join him. Lucky for me, our friends Jessi and Chuck could come so I knew I’d at least have someone around to drink vino with and chat about non-sport things (aka, our weddings- priorities, people.). Leading up to the game, the two of us got way more excited about planning out our tailgating feast than we did about watching the game 😉 Who would bring what: wine, beer, meat, snacks, grill, paper goods etc. It was pretty much a constant stream of texts between the two of us hammering out all of the necessary details.
However, as much as I was excited to see a professional soccer match, hang out with RM at his favorite sporting event and hanging out with our friends, in the back of my mind I kept thinking about how late the game was- WAY past my bedtime on a Sunday night. I don’t deal well without sufficient amounts of sleep (I like to be in bed for 8 hours… minimum!), so at times (mostly when we were trying to get out of the gridlocked parking lot!) I found myself stressing a bit over that instead of just soaking in the experience, enjoying my time with RM and our friends and drinking plenty of vino 😉 And, although it was a Sunday night that was totally out of the ordinary for me because of the drinking and being out late (#SundayFunday), it was such a FUN experience! We ate, we drank, we laughed, we did lots of wedding talk, we watched some great soccer from some awesome seats… all in all, even after sitting in traffic for 1.5 hours trying to get out of the lot and onto 95 (ugh!) and not getting into bed until 1:15am, I went to bed feeling so blessed to have had such a fun night.
All my life I’ve been guilty of over-analyzing, over-thinking, over-stressing, etc. when things don’t go according to my normal plan/way I like things to go, but you know what? Having one day of being a little tired (and I got to work from home, so I really shouldn’t even be complaining!) was totally worth the memories we all created. Sometimes we all just need a little reminder that things don’t have to go how we plan. In fact, those are often the times that create the best memories, right?!
So thank you, RM, for getting me out of my comfort zone and helping me experience something new- and really fun! Can’t wait for a lifetime of more memories!
Questions for you: Do you tend to follow a rigid schedule/plan or do you prefer spontaneity? Do you get stressed when things don’t go according to plan?
PS I realized this post is a great follow up to what I wrote last week about going with the flow and embracing the now. Give it a read if you missed it!
Burpees to Bubbly 