When Kenny got his cast a couple of weeks ago, I carefully scheduled the follow-up at a time that would allow me to make my swim aerobics class and not impact his school activities too much.

The doctor's automatic appointment reminder yesterday morning confirmed that. Then, at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, in between picking them up at school and visiting the barber shop, the doctor's staff called to reschedule.

"We can see you tomorrow at 8," she said cheerily.

"That won't work," I replied, thinking of my obligation to get Timmy to school, not wanting Kenny to be marked "tardy" and wondering how in the world I could be on the road to Lawrenceville with Kenny and the baby by 7AM.

"The next available time would be Monday at the Yardley office," she offered.

"Yardley?" I asked. "In Pennsylvania," she confirmed.

"No, that's no good," I said. "Then we can't see you ..., " she trailed off and I thought, "What, EVER?"

Then she put me on hold for a moment and came back with "9:45". Better than 8AM but not as good as 11:45, our original appointment time.

I wasn't expecting his cast to come off so it wasn't my intention to keep the appointment at all costs. But, the cast did come off today; the nurse had Kenny slip his hand right out.

The x-ray reveals that the hand has healed nicely. So, it was worth the trouble to be finished with this episode. But I'll always think that my original plan was perfect: allowing me to swim and Kenny to miss only lunch & art instead of his spelling test and music. Best laid plans ...