The best-laid plans

Tomorrow I was supposed to take a Greyhound bus to Bozeman, Montana. It would have been a 2-day, 9-hour journey. I would have stopped in Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, Fargo and about 11 other major cities on the way. I would read some great books on the road. I was excited to spend the money I saved by not flying on a video camera and documenting my trip across America and my summer in Yellowstone. I wanted to meet interesting people on the Greyhound--people I wouldn't ordinarily come in contact with. I heard a "This American Life" broadcast a long time ago about a guy who Greyhounded across America and tape-recorded conversations with interesting (and surely some creepy) people. I was inspired.

However, as of yesterday, I am no longer taking a Greyhound bus to Yellowstone. I had checked with my mom on the Greyhound idea and she "ok"ed it. But my dad wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anything happened to me--which is VERY caring of him. I'm thankful for his care for me. So he bought me a plane ticket to Bozeman. I'm leaving Saturday morning at 6:30. With the money he's spending plus the money I've already spent on the Greyhound ticket, I'll hardly be making anything in Yellowstone, which was one of the main reasons I chose to go to Yellowstone as opposed to, say, visiting my friends in Europe this summer. Some dear friends I met in South Africa are gettin married in Sweden July 29th. I feel very juvenile--both for my dad's protection and for my attitude towards not getting my way. I guess that can be way # 101 that I'm selfish.

I don't know if Robert Burns' poem applies more to people like me--people who don't plan very well (ie: check with their dads before purchasing a Greyhound ticket)--or if it applies to everyone equally. Probably MORE to people like me, but it does say the "best-laid" plans go oft awry. I've found this to be true so often in my case. "Is God usually sovereign or always sovereign?" I have to ask myself.