The only plan I need, any time of year

Yesterday, one moment after I posted an email to my blog subscribers, detailing my plans for a New Year's Eve of quiet contemplative sacred practice, the phone rang.My mother, who has been in the hospital for a week battling pneumonia, had taken a sudden turn for the worse. Could I come?Of course, I could come - though I'd miss tea with my yoga friends.  Of course, I could come - though I had a cold and sore throat.Of course, I could come - though I'd JUST yesterday put my daughter on the plane back to CA. 

I could spend New Year's Eve chasing down doctors - and chasing gurneys (really - we had a CT Scan!)And it was all of course. This morning, I was planning to pick up the NY Times and resume my NY EVE plans, when my husband caught me in the kitchen. We started talking - and then arguing. And suddenly, I was furiously packing things into boxes. We weren't speaking to each other.I could end this post with a snarky comment like: This is going to be quite a year. I could tell myself that last night stole something from me or that this morning ruined my day... and my life!But I know better. I know that all of this - every difficult, uncomfortable, painful second of this - is included in my real plan (and it's the only plan I need now): The plan to hold the space for love no matter what happens.Life is ALWAYS going to interrupt my plans. ALWAYS. And because I know now who I am and what this is, I have a plan for that.