In Spring of 2020 (and anyone over the age of 8 likely knows what happens next), I was fortunate enough to be able to coach little league with Jim Taylor which was a dream come true. Jim is an excellent baseball coach and he shared my kumbaya coaching philosophy. As we prepared for the draft, I created a multi-sheet excel spread sheet with about every statistic or comment I could think of on the draft ability of 10 and 11 year olds. I shared it with him like a kid showing their mom what they did in art class. His poetic response: the best laid plans of mouse and men often go awry.

In April 2019, my firm expanded and brought along Chad Donnahoo, an attorney with a decade of experience in practicing law and was as smart a person as I had ever met. We were all set – with ideas of opening offices in Burnsville and growing practice areas. Little did anyone know or expect that the world would simply shut down in March 2020 and for the next year or so and go through a pandemic. Throw plans out the window when folks are ordered to remain indoors for 3 months, flatten the curve, and mask up.

Skipping ahead, in Fall of 2024, another unpredictable, cataclysmic event happened in WNC – Hurricane Helene. Our house was without drinking water from September 27 to November 18. Instead of checking in with clients for case updates, we were checking in just to see if they were alive and okay.

What’s the take away? Don’t make plans because you never know when a Hurricane will wipe things out? Certainly not. What those events have taught me is that while you should make plans, even be excited about them, you don’t have to worry yourself to no end about them happening or not. There’s a sense of peace knowing that while we can put forth our best effort, we can just be a day away from flushing toilets with 5 gallon buckets in a blink of an eye or locked down at home trying to teach our kids math because of the plague. Man made plans after all are just that – man made in a world that man didn’t make. Of course they may not always work out and that’s okay.