Late: Theme Thursday

When I was a little girl, six or so, my oldest brother, Matt would call me Kate Late. No one else did and no one has since. I've never been one to collect nicknames. It was his name for me.

I'd call him, Matt Fat (in my head I would spell it with 2 "t's" so it was just like Matt: Matt Fatt.) He'd say, "Kate Late." and I'd answer, "Matt Fatt."

There was neither rhyme nor reason to these nicknames. My brother, a runner for over 30 years, is not and has never been fat.

And I, well, I'm never late. Ever.

Okay, yes, I'm late every once in a while but it's rare and it usually is because of outside forces...traffic, plague, tornadoes, etc.

It might be the Stage Manager in me as I spend most of my time at work worrying about time: When is the next break? How long is the break? When does rehearsal start? How close are we to show time? How long does the show run? How far into intermission are we?

Late for me is planning to arrive at work 45 minutes before rehearsal begins in order to complete 20 minutes of work; but then arriving 40 minutes before rehearsal, ending up in a conversation, and having only 25 minutes to complete my 20 minutes of work. Yep, I'm that anal.

And, part of my job is to call people who are late. I'm all about time. Just give me a stopwatch and a clipboard and watch me go.

Brian and I used to pretend that we were late people because there seemed such a prestige associated with that trait. "Oh we are so busy we can't possibly arrive on time, our lives are so full." But truly, we are the most on-time couple I know. We've been known to go out for a drink before a dinner or a party in order not to show up exactly on time.

I might as well confess it here: I'm intolerant of late people. Perhaps that makes me an anti-late-tite but there it is. While I used to believe that late people led such full, exciting lives, now I just think, "why isn't my time important to you?"

Of course, I understand sick kids or traffic or End of Days. But just to be late...and without calling...in this day and age. Not for me. And, it's the perpetually late people that annoy me. Not the ones who say, "Hey, we're always late so start without us." That's nice. It's the ones who are always late but believe that the event--whether it's dinner or whatever--should not begin without their presence.

On the other hand, maybe their lives are just really that exciting and I'm jealous. And I should be more tolerant because I manage time well--I have to, it's my job and it's why I'm good at it. Many people do overbook themselves because time management isn't one of their strongest characteristics. Another thing I'm good at is being lazy which also makes me good with time because I never overbook myself. Someone once told me that laziness often leads to efficiency, I'm not sure how but I'm going with that one.

Well, break's over and I'm back to the real world, so I'll just leave you with this video in honor of time: