PANIC!!

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night in a panic because you’ve forgotten something?  I did today.

This is actually something that happens to me fairly frequently.  On a good night, it’s something I’ve forgotten to put in a backpack for the morning and I can do it and go back to bed.  On a bad night it’s something that I can’t do anything about until business hours but the panic keeps me awake anyway.

I bolted awake at 5:30 am with the sick feeling that I had forgotten to send in the second half of the payment for our beach vacation next week.  I knew I hadn’t sent it in, but I couldn’t remember when it was due.  If I messed this up it’s not only my family’s vacation I’ve ruined.  There are three other families coming, one from as far as Colorado.  I sleep with my phone by my bed (it made more sense when I was feeding the baby in the middle of the night but now it’s just become habit) so I sent myself a quick email to check the rental agreement.  If I missed the deadline I couldn’t do anything about it at 5:30 anyway.  Well, it wasn’t that easy.  I couldn’t go back to sleep and I started having a stomach ache from the worry so I just got up and checked the rental agreement.  Then I really panicked.

The bulk of our payment was due 3 weeks ago.  No way I was getting anymore sleep after that.  I almost puked.  I headed to the shower (might as well panic and get ready for work at the same time) holding back the tears.  What if I’ve screwed this up for everyone???  We’ll have to reimburse people for airfare; we won’t get to see our good friends we’ve REALLY been looking forward to seeing.

I showered and dressed and made the big boys breakfast.  I unloaded the dishwasher and packed up my pump.  I sat with my 4 year old for a while trying to act as if everything was normal.  The baby woke up so I went to go feed him.  As I fed him I checked my email.  There was the one from myself reminding me to check the rental agreement.  And there were three from the rental agency thanking me for my payment and giving me directions to the cottage and instructions on how we get in.

What???

Turns out back in January when I booked the vacation I was smart enough to know I would forget to send in the last payment so I told them to go ahead and charge my card when the time came.  I almost melted I was so relieved.

The emails from the agency came in last night at midnight—after I went to bed but before I woke up panicked.  Too bad I didn’t check my email when I sent myself that other one.  I could have saved myself hours of stomach roiling, tear inducing panic.

I wish I could say I’m sure it will be smooth sailing until we get to the beach next week, but I haven’t packed yet.  I haven’t even started planning what to pack yet.  My husband says I’m not happy unless I have something to worry about.  He may be right, but I could do without the panic.