Let it fall

Sometimes it will rain inside.

This is what I have been telling myself over and over again for the past few days as I prep for my first event of the (calendar) year.

My boss turned me lose this year to run the event (essentially) on my own. Never one to back down from a challenge, I took the reigns and ran with them. The trails were not always smooth, but at the end of each day I felt like I could say, "everything is going to be okay."

As we turned the corner to the final stretch of this week, I felt the tension - in my shoulders and in the hurried bites of lunch I did not manage to eat until 4:00 in the afternoon, but I knew if I just kept myself one step ahead, I would get through it.

So I got up early, and stayed late, and worked on the couch, and skipped fun things to do work things, and spent my airplane hours on spreadsheets rather than books and booze (okay, there were some books and booze). I just needed to work harder, faster, longer - and I would get. it. done.

Wednesday was a big day. Lego Death Star-type big.

I had everything planned. My execution was Nadia Comaneci-level flawless. And then? It rained inside the conference room.

The source of the leak has yet to be explained to me, but it rained from the ceiling tiles. First, just a little bit, so we would notice. And then - it spread. Slow enough to give us enough time to get things out. Fast enough that we couldn't do it without an all-out panic.

With the help of nearly a quarter of my amazing colleagues, we managed to relocate the entire operation to another, drier conference room. Everyone laughed and high-fived and went about their days. I tried not to twitch too hard as I shook the hands of the VIPs who walked in just minutes after the final materials had been moved out of the swamp we had originally inhabited.

And I kept saying to myself

Sometimes it will rain inside.

You can be prepared for everything and anything You can play offense and defense and special teams all by yourself but there will forever be at least one bridge troll that you cannot have even imagined would have blocked your way. So what to do you do?

You surround yourself with amazing, supportive people who have your back, from here to the moon.

You put faith in a smile, and a friendly, problem-solving word.

You thank people. Effusively, graciously, genuinely. One of them probably has an umbrella or will get you a cup of coffee.

You work as hard as you can but try to remind yourself, even if it is only just once a day, on the way to the bathroom, that you are only one human. You can only do one human's worth of things each day.

Today on T-minus Event Day - I needed this. I needed my mantra like I needed my flats. Like I needed my boyfriend to come build me a step and repeat. Like I needed my work-panda to run around and make a line of people disappear (this is an actual demand I made of her) and then take me out for homemade lasagna. Like I needed a dress-with-pockets borrowed from my Big Cuz. Like I needed a couple of hours of building trains with my favorite three year old last night.

You can't plan for everything. Just know that there will be an umbrella, whether you borrow it or build it out of place cards and raffle tickets.