#appointment

It may seem like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and the rest of the holiday season are ages away, but these next few weeks are sure to go by quick. You don’t want to be caught off guard because school and work kept you busy up until the last minute. Take the opportunity to start planning now; that way, you’ll have nothing to worry about when the big days actually come.

• Make your gift list. Who do you want to get presents? What’s your budget? Are they group gifts? This is the time to figure all this out so you can start purchasing items as you see them. There’s no worse feeling than not having something to give to someone that you’d planned on getting a gift. Avoid that embarrassment by working on your list now and crossing it off, slowly but surely.

• Figure out your schedule. Will you need days off? What about half days? Should you be scheduling appointments? The holidays are a time where you generally have some time away from work and school, but you may have to take that time off. They’re also an excellent opportunity to schedule doctor and dentist appointments - taking these days off now means people are less likely to have already done so.

• Clean out your closet. What have you accumulated in the past year that you really aren’t using? This is the time to clean out your closet and donate things you don’t need. That way, you’ve got space for the new goodies you’re sure to acquire, but you also make your old belongings available to people who may see them as the best gift they could give. Talk about win-win!

In my journal I write:

                     You’re afraid because you’re already
        dead, really, when you think about it.
                     And since you’re already dead, don’t you just

                     want to live—

—Dana Levin, from “Appointment,” Now Do You Know Where You Are

Life sometimes gets so bogged down in the details, you forget you are living it. There is always another appointment to be met, another bill to pay, another symptom presenting, another uneventful day to be notched onto the wooden wall. We have synchronized our watches, studied our calendars, existed in minutes, and completely forgotten to step back and see what we’ve accomplished.

My Sister’s Keeper.