Tardiness is a No-no

I do not like to be late. Considering the fact that I am half Mexican and come from a Mexican family who typically runs on "Mexican time" it seems odd but it's true.

I'll admit I can be flexible about tardiness but only when it comes to two things: family events and church events. When we have a family event I do not stress about being late because I know no one will be there on time anyways. Church is pretty much the same thing - though not as big of a stretch. Family events I give 30 min. to an hour from the starting and don't make plans after because it goes until we decide to leave. For church I give10 - 15 minutes from start time and 30 minutes ending time. I realize this is just how it goes.

In everything else I get a little anal about being on time. I freak out when I'm running late.

I drive faster and more aggressively, I get irritable and I start to believe that the world hates me and is trying to keep me from getting to me destination on time.

The last part is a direct result of the first two ... but I swear it's true.

This morning Kristin picked me up 15 minutes late (we carpool Fridays and it was her turn to drive) but there was no traffic on the 57 so we were making really good time ... until we decided we wanted coffee. All of the sudden near the off-ramp we hit a bunch of traffic - for no reason. We got off an exit early, but it literally took at least 5 minutes at the first light. Then we hit every red light. I was getting seriously annoyed because Starbucks isn't exactly fast and I did not want to be late for work.

Lucky for me, Kristin gets less annoyed about punctuality and suggested we stop at McDonald's because it is typically faster. There was a long line at the drive-through so we went inside. It worked. We were in and out in about 5 minutes and made it to work on time.

Maybe I should work on being more like Kristin. I mean I keep my calm just fine the rest of the time and because of how much I freak out when I'm running late I usually end up there within 5 minutes of the time (sometimes early) but it would definitely be less stressful to look at things differently ... then again, it isn't that easy for me.

I think it is because of my family always running late that I get annoyed. I don't like waiting around and I really dislike making any one wait for me. I'll admit, however, it does get a bit ridiculous. It always ends up not being a big deal.

So I will work on that because I have enough stress in my life to be worrying so much about 5 minutes.

'Nuff said,
Crysania