Corralling the Ducks

Photo credit: Charles Jackson – Unsplash

You know the saying, “Get your ducks in a row”? It’s one of my favorites – all about getting things in order, being prepared for what lies ahead, and making order of the chaos.

For the past 10 years or so I’ve lived by this motto – for work and play and everything in between. Not that I have everything planned out (I most definitely do not), but I tend to real quickly come up with a game plan and set it into motion – I figure that way I’m never rushing last minute or making things harder on myself than they need to be.

Paper or presentation due on the 15th? I’ll set a personal deadline of the 10th and then finalize it one last time the day before it’s due. 

Moving – again? I set up the movers and lock in the date, so we can start packing and tackling all the details bit by bit at a comfortable pace. 

Whatever it is – my goal is to Get. It. Done. (Preferably early, efficiently, with no balls dropped and no last minute rush, so that when the deadline or last minute approaches you can find me relaxing on the couch with the family eating ice cream rather than up in a tizzy frantically rushing around.)

I use this approach literally all the time. It’s basically the opposite of procrastination – and it works great.

… except when unclear and uncontrollable timelines are thrown into the mix – that can definitely throw things into a loop.

Which brings us to today...

6 months pregnant, at the edge of my seat (not literally – I know better given my changing center of gravity and newly glitchy sense of balance!) and soooo excited to start preparing all of the things for little baby, from accumulating goodies for him to decorating the nursery! 

Which brings us to the conundrum of “How to decorate a nursery when the room (literally, the walls, the duct work, the floors... ) doesn’t yet exist and the house construction timeline has become murky (thanks to the coldest weather in forever, record snowfall, and – oh yeah – the pandemic affecting everything everywhere, including construction timelines, shortages of building materials, and delays for orders of appliances, furniture, and well pretty much anything else).” 

Let’s just say this culmination of events hasn’t jived with my tried and true anti-procrastination approach to managing chaos. Basically, I know what ducks I need to put in order but, beyond that, I can’t start corralling them into a row just yet.

So instead, I design the nursery, I design the rooms in the house, and I fiddle with the designs some more.

… and then I wait.

… and then I redesign, and I wait some more. I wait until we have a clearer timeline and, in the meantime, I have the ducks identified and know where they need to go. 

Would I like all the ducks to be in a row? Of course! But I’m starting to realize there are some silver linings to this whole “slow down and wait” approach too – more time to think through options and make decisions, and more of an acceptance of the natural pace of things and uncontrollable nature of everything going on right now. I’m focusing more on just enjoying the process.

Also, if it so happens that baby arrives near (or on!) moving day, at least I have a good excuse to not partake in the wonderful event that is moving day – I think 4 cross-country moves (plus another move thrown in there for good measure) over the past 10 years is plenty already.  

And, if he arrives early and ready to take on the world, before the nursery is finished or before the house is move-in ready? We will gladly roll with it, adding it to the list of adventures this little fella and I have gone through together so far – pregnancy in a pandemic, a job change, traversing blizzard conditions and record cold days that tend to fall on the days of his doctor appointments, building a house, and the list goes on. Space may be a bit tight for a while, but let’s face it, given how obsessed I already am with this fella, it’s not like we need a lot of room – I’m keeping him within arms’ reach and within sight for the foreseeable future!

So, this morning as I eat my second breakfast of the day (or let’s call it brunch – that seems more socially acceptable️… Pregnancy hunger is for real, folks!), I’ll bask in the joy of dreaming up my newest iteration of nursery design and will put the furniture and decor in my online shopping cart, where they’ll wait until we have a timeline for all the pieces falling into place over the next several months. 

Though today the ducks aren’t all in a neat little row, I am so happy they are in the pond, I am grateful they are within sight, and I’m enjoying every moment of looking at them, excited for what lies ahead whenever the timing is right.

… Now just wish me luck corralling them into formation when the time comes!