I forgot to check the calendar when the forms for parentteacher conferences came home. Oops. With one conference scheduled for 4:45 PM and another at 5:00 PM on Monday, I have to figure out how to get Maggie to play rehearsal (uptown) at 5:00 PM and Mary to Nutcracker rehearsal (downtown) at the same time. Plus I just received an e-mail reminding me of a five o’clock fund-raising committee meeting at the school around the corner that I have to attend. My husband Andrew can’t help; he’ll be at work. I need him to pick up Elizabeth when she’s done with choir anyway.

After the initial shock of discovering my scheduling megadisaster, I forced myself to take a deep breath. There’s only one thing that helps me when I’m faced with mind-boggling conundrums like this and that’s to remember that logistical problems aren’t actually problems, they’re puzzles. They belong in the crossword-solving part of my brain, not the worry center. No one is going to die or be scarred for life or even require a trip to the doctor if I don’t figure this out. The only true danger is that I’ll stress out and start being unpleasant to my family. So I tossed the problem onto the back burner, where so many insoluble difficulties simmer into solutions.

Last night, around midnight, I think I figured out a way to handle Monday. The logistics require higher math to follow and a cast of thou- sands to execute, but the plan will probably work. And if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. It’s neither the beginning nor the end of the world.

Lord, help me to remember that the world won’t fall apart if I’m not able to make things run perfectly smoothly.