4EVR L8

A friend of mine told me about the license plate that she had on her car.  It says 4EVR L8, translated to mean Forever Late.

That is something that I continually struggle with.  I don’t mean to be late.  I just always think of one more thing that I could or should do before I leave.  And I am a poor estimator of time.  I think I can do things faster that I actually can- especially when it comes to getting the children out the door.

Today, this cute girl had a doctors appointment.

Kara has been having foot pain since last year.  When we finally got her in to the doctor last year, (going through the in-plan doctors through our insurance took over three months to be seen by a podiatrist)  it was the middle of summer and her foot wasn’t really hurting anymore.

As this year has progressed, so has the pain.  I notice that she limps and does a hop skip step when she is walking, trying to avoid the foot that is hurting.

We have new insurance (so much easier) and so I called last week to make her an appointment. 

We were going to a brand new doctor and I wanted to be on time.  We got ready to go and what do you know, when we left the house we were on time and actually a little early!!

We got to the appointment and walked in 5 minutes before our appointment!!  I think it is a new personal best for me.

The office was nice and small and had one women working the front desk.  We signed in and waited for a bit.  After about 10 minutes she called me up to the desk.  She asked me if we had a referral and I said no.  She apologetically shook her head and told me that they don’t accept walk-ins.  Confused, I told her that I wasn’t just a ‘walk-in’.  I called last week and made an appointment.  I had self-referred to their office.  She checked her book again trying to figure it out. I felt instant frustration over the mistake.  I had taken my daughter out of school for this!  I wanted to be seen by the doctor!

Suddenly, and luckily before I raised a stink, I felt a wave of panic come over me.  I knew exactly what the problem was.

I was at the wrong Doctor's office.

You see, I was feeling really bad for Kara and I wanted to get her an appointment as soon as possible.  I had called this office to make an appointment and the earliest appointment was in about two weeks.  I set the appointment and then hung up the call.  As soon as I was off the phone I thought, why am I waiting?  I can go to any doctor I want.  So I called around and found someone who could get her in Monday.  So I made the new appointment and added it to my calendar. 

But my mental calendar had the wrong location.

As the women checked her appointment schedule, I could feel my checks start to blush.  She turned the page and finally found us…….for next Tuesday at 11.  Not this Monday at 11. 

Just what I was afraid of!!  I was at the wrong place!!!

I held my composure and tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal.  Like, I’m sure this must happen all the time.

She was very sweat and talked about how she wished that the doctor could fit us in but that she was booked and covering for another doctor.  She gave us paper work and a reminder card with the correct day and time.

I tried to smoothly usher the kids out of the office as fast as possible while still maintaining an ounce of dignity.

Totally not possible!  Three kids does not make for a fast escape!  Especially when the one who thought she was going to the doctor is totally confused.

As soon as we got out the door, I started embarrassingly laughing and told Kara what had happened.  Then I quickly called the correct doctor’s office and told them I had gone to the wrong place but that I was one my way.

It was 11:15.

Thankfully, it was just down the street and only took us about 5 minutes to get there.

But you know what that means?

I WAS LATE!

I guess all I can do is try!  And one day maybe being on time/early might actually happen for real!