How I Got Here

Planning has always been a part of my life, something I get, in different ways, from both of my parents.  My Dad always focused on the long term, he always told me to have a plan for life.  He always told me to know what I want to be, and how to get there, and to work towards it every day.  My mom taught me how to plan the day to day.  Events, shopping lists, Christmas shopping had to be done by Thanksgiving, everyone always had a birthday card in a little accordion folder -labled and often purchased a year in advance.  Between the two, I have become someone who always has a plan for everything. 

The long term and short term planning started at a young age for me. As a kid my mom would always have to tell me that I couldn’t start planning my birthday parties until a month before, otherwise as soon as the last party guest left, I would be planning the next.  She did not have my husband’s Saint-Like stamina for hearing about streamer and table cloth color choices  365 days a year.

I spent ages 6-15 working towards becoming an Orthodontist,….figuring out which classes to take, which schools had the best pre-dental programs, how to get in, etc… That was when the first big rule of planning to become crystal clear to me.  You can literally spend nearly your whole life planning for something, and then when the time comes, you may realize that the plan is not a good fit, and that is ok. You have to be willing to trust yourself, and your gut, and to go where it takes you.  Often times, it ends up better than you ever could have planned. I did not go to PLU as I had planned,  I did not go through pre-dental programs, or become an Orthodontist as I had planned. In fact, I was not even close.  Luckily, I realized, I hate all things having to do with studying and becoming an Orthodontist.  What I love is the planning that goes into a difficult and complex task, such as planning out how to become an Orthodontist.  

I ended up at Western Washington University in the Business Department, and minored in Event Planning.  My plan was to become an Event Planner.  I dreamed of someday managing a large Event Center.  Again  however, plans changed.  I met my husband in the Business Department, graduated, moved to my Husbands home town of Kent, and shadowed an Event Center Marketing Manager.  I realized that these people never go home, their job is their life.  A single 20 year old version of myself thought that was just the ticket, but three years later it had lost its luster.  I had the good fortune of landing a job with an incredible company, and after two years with them I ended up becoming their travel planner. I now get to do what I love every day, someone pinch me!

Planning continues to be my way of life. I research, I conceptualize, I never stop jotting down notes, and thoughts.  Once I have a plan, I keep reworking it to get to costs however I can without compromising the integrity of the plan. I like the extra challenge of seeing what we can get for our money. My husband never stops hearing the phrases “So I think I will,…You know what would be really cool,…What if we?” Thankfully, it’s rare that he gets bored with my plans, and if he is, he kindly tunes me out while smiling and nodding.  I don’t mind, I appreciate the effort, and I focus him back in if it’s something he actually needs to know.  Often times I just need to hear things out loud to work them out.  

Most people who are extreme planners, like myself, are very A-Type personality.  Labels like OCD, and Control Freak generally come to mind.  I’m a little odd. I am a very messy person.  I’m organized where I need to be and in planning, but my bed is rarely made, all of my clothes are rarely all hung up and put away.  If they are, the drawers that I painstakingly organized rarely stay that way for more than a week.  These are shortcomings that I have learned to accept about myself.

My planning addiction is actually quite handy.  We end up with a lot of really neat experiences due to my never ending budget friendly thought processes.  Maybe a few people out there will find our adventures, ideas, and projects helpful or entertaining.  Maybe it will just serve as evening reading material for my mom.  Either way, it should buy my husband a few hours of blissful refuge from my never ending stream of plans.