Today was one of those days.  I needed everything to line up just right, and for the most part it did, but there were some very tense moments where it looked like the daily pyramid was going to crumble.

I probably missed the early sign.  I had to catch a train this morning no later than 732.  The girls did their part-no dawdling this morning and we got to school on time.  Of course the person running the program was 7 minutes late.  While that does not sound like much-its my entire buffer to make it from Sound Beach to Ronkonkoma.

But I made it.

Anyone who has visited a media company in the city knows security is generally tight.  For some reason this morning when I got to my first stop (on time) the security folks made two calls and got two different sets of instructions-which rippled into a 915 meeting starting at 935, although I was there at 910.

Bounced through a series of meetings mostly uneventful, and got to my last meeting of the day-where I was giving a presentation.  That’s when my mobile started ringing-and it was the parents of friends of my kids calling.  No way that can be good.

On the second call, I excused myself and found out my afternoon sitter was as of 5 minutes after the school bus rolled by-a no show.

So, I had to walk into a “C” level meeting and ask for a 10 minute recess.  It works on Law and Order, I can only hope it works in a conference room too.

Five phones calls (and no losing my temper) later-kids are squared up and the sitter has arrived, and I can re-start my presentation.  Now the problem is my flow is gone–so I am standing in front of key executives, PowerPoint fired up and I am stumbling through slides, knocked off my game.

I wanted to just lace into someone, anyone-but that’s not the way this pyramid was built today.  The sands shifted.  Instead, when I spoke with 10.5 and 8.0 I was relieved, and actually choked back a tear or two.  They were never in danger, they did a longer ride and are none the worse for it all.  But still, its just not the way its supposed to go.

I have a plan and I have the parts in place-but the fallback is still a work in progress.  Another alternative to think through, another what if to consider.

So instead, I am looking ahead, tomorrow is a new day, and I get to start it all over again.