Life, Unscheduled

Sometimes, it seems that we live by my schedule--the weekly message that tells me which hours I'll be home and which hours I won't, and determines what arrangements we will need to make to cover all the bases and all the meals. (Other family members could argue that we live by their schedules, which may also be true, but hey, this is my blog).
 
What I realized today, however, as I found myself walking several miles home from a destination I hadn't even planned, because I had no Metrocard and no desire to spend twenty dollars on a rush-hour cab, is that what we often live by is the unscheduled. You see, if I had a job that had me going to the same place for the same hours every day, there would be some regularity. There would be a clear picture of what could be done and what couldn't, what would happen or what wouldn't, on any given day.
 
So, because of my scheduled, yet unscheduled, life, today I walked several unexpected miles. And today, because of my walking those unexpected miles, I accomplished some unexpected errands and my son had an unexpected out of the ordinary afternoon. And because of those unexpected errands and the unexpected afternoon, things look different today.
 
Perhaps we do live by my schedule. But maybe, just maybe, what we really live by is what's unscheduled...