A Change of Plans

I had plans to actually watch the rock climbing championships for more than one minute and for the entire championship on ESPN. After all, what is there to see but people climbing up a wall. I learned there was a timing challenge so one climber had to go faster than the other one. But all in all, it wasn't something that caught my fancy. The climbers were all lean and muscled, and I didn't know how they practiced if they lived somewhere that didn't have an indoor rock climbing place. But here they were with the banner "National Championships" all over the place. So did they have to win local contests to get there? Did they have to collect points during the year? It was more than I really cared to know, so my watching barely stretched into a minute and a half.

We change our plans all the time. Thanksgiving always makes me think of the plans when the Womack family was still a large one and usually got together at Bonham where Jerri and Bobby were the best hosts that anyone could ask for at a holiday. Jerri made sure the entire crowd of at least 15 had a place to sleep, food to eat, and games to play, so it was a glorious time. But sometimes even her plans went down in flames. Once, Bobby had decided to use his brand new, wonderful smoker for the humongous turkey they had. So Thanksgiving Eve at bedtime he put it out there and went to bed dreaming of how it was going to taste the next day. Jerri, who always go up early to make sure things were going to go well, got up at 5, checked the smoker, and found out the fire had gone out and the turkey was as pure as the driven snow with no hint of being cooked. What could she do because it would take up the entire oven with other dishes needing to be in? Great thought: the neighbors who were good friends  had left their key because they were gone, so she lugged the big turkey over to their house and their oven, and cooked it slowly for the rest of the day until time for the meal. No one had to know it was second choice. 

Another time she thought it might be fun to try something new. Bobby was an officer at the bank and could sign up for their Community Room for Thanksgiving Day which meant plenty of bathrooms, a kitchen, big TVs, tables for games, and a few hours in a new spot. I woke up early as she was getting things packed to take to the Community Room since it would take more than one trip with all the food Womacks consumed. "I'll go with you," I volunteered and helped to load the car for the first trip. We got to the parking lot of the Community Room and saw six or seven cars. Jerri knew something was wrong; there shouldn't be cars. So she went inside and came back laughing. Bobby had forgotten to reserve the room, so someone else was bringing their family for the day. We went back home, unpacked all the food we had just packed, and never told a soul. 

And then there was the time Jerri, who was a wonderful cook, thought it would save time to have the lady who cooked for the Lions Club meal to do the dressing. There would be 3 big pans, and that would save space in preparations. So she bought the pans, and the dressing looked almost as good as what Jerri always made. We sat down to eat, and everyone got portions of all the wonderful dishes. It was only after some time passed that Jerri herself got to get a helping of dressing. After tasting it, she looked at all our plates and realized no one had eaten the dressing after the first bite. "That is awful!" she wailed. And then we all felt we could join the chorus and say the same thing. "That is awful!" So we laughed and threw the dressing out and concentrated on all the other food which was plenty.

Photo by Mike Fisher

General Santa Anna planned to take Texas away from the upstart fighters who disagreed with his idea. The U. S. had an official stance of neutrality toward the rebellion, but citizens of Cincinnati decided the cause was a just one. They began in 1835 to raise enough funds to get 2 cannons to be manufactured there and shipped down to New Orleans. The big guns arrived in April 1836 in Galveston and went into action on April 20. Supporting the infantry assault the next day at the battle of San Jacinto, the two cannons from Ohio supporters were welcome help to the Texas rebels who needed fire power.

Plans can look great in our minds or on paper, but sometimes the changes are really the best policy.

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