Happiness lies in planning.

People always ask, "what did we do before _____?" As in, what did we do before cell phones? I'll tell you; we planned. We looked AHEAD a few days or weeks, saw that a time or date was open and we stuck to it, stayed with the plan and followed through. Now with texting and cell phones, you can easily break commitments with just a few taps on the touch screen you can sever a connection and free it up for something more worthwhile. It's like relationship/friendship triage. If something more fun comes up, you can always send a text message to easily break that lunch date with a friend for the better option. No longer do you have to hear the disappointment in their voice when you tell them 'something's come up' and that 'let's try again later.'

On another level, "What did we do before cars?" comes to mind. It's hard for many of us to think back to a time when our beloved vehicle or family cruiser could be called into service at a moment's notice and take us to anywhere we thought we needed to be. We could wake up 15 minutes before work and make it there in time, perhaps looking a bit disheveled, but still, on time.

Our grandparents had to plan their day. Once a week the whole family would get together in their sunday best and hit the town for church and some hard candies at the general store afterward if they were good and didn't sleep through sermon or dip Peggy Sue's pigtails in the ink well. They couldn't just have hopped in the car, gone to the corner store and picked up a movie and a pint of ice cream and settle in for a late-night movie. No. They had to plan. I believe planning is a bit of a lost art these days or at least a little less of a priority than in the past with all this instant communication at our beck and call. Planning has been co-opted by the cellphone and PDA. I've read alot of people's lamentations online regarding having to plan trips or reduce trips or combine trips nowadays with the cost of personal transportation rising more and more every day. Maybe, just maybe, people will stick to their word and not flake out as often with this new revelation. Perhaps we'll see a resurgence in the meaning of character as a result of this newfound desire for efficiency. And when you have fewer visits with the ones you love, you might just get more out of it and cherish the moment all the more.

Take time to smell the roses or at least plan a time to smell the roses and stick with it.