Degrees of Promptness

When it comes to arriving for an appointment…are you early, late, on-time? My dad always says, “You can call me late…but don’t call me late for dinner.”….bada bum. Nice joke, Jerry. (The other Jerry shouldn’t have to worry about Pops stealing his job.)

I would say that PaulA and I are either early or on-time. We are rarely late…so if we aren’t showing up when expected…people wonder. OMG, where is PaulA and Kat? Maybe Kat is having a bad hair day….

Some people use little tricks to keep themselves timely…like set their clock ahead 10 minutes. But if you were the same person who moved the clock ahead….wouldn’t you just factor in the extra time. I know I would. I never understood this trick.

They say President Obama runs late…which is not at all like President George Never Late Bush, but similar to former President Bill Always Late Clinton. Let’s just hope any similarities between Obama and Clinton begin and end there. I hear Obama prefers cigarettes over a cigar anyway…which is a good thing.

There are different degrees of promptness, and I wouldn’t attempt to name names here and put people into specific categories…EARLY BIRD, ON-TIME, LATE, SO LATE YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME LATE. Everyone knows what category they belong in. I don’t need to be pointing fingers.

Sometimes people jump categories…and that’s not always a good thing. It brings in an element of surprise. So the LATE person, suddenly moves into the ON-TIME category. Now that’s a problem, because the on-time person has already factored in that the late person is gonna be late by at least ten minutes…and now they have become the LATE person.

Every degree of promptness can have its problems:

EARLY BIRD: you catch your Grandmother putting in her teeth.

ON-TIME: you catch the plane that ends up in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

LATE: you just miss seeing the horses cross the finish line at the Kentucky Derby.

SO LATE YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME LATE: you miss seeing your kid graduate from college...summa cum laude.

p.s. Happy Birthday ShoutOUT to Alice May..who is in a category all of her own...Rockin Mom!