A "No Worries" Day

"No worries," is the Australian national motto. No, not officially; it's just a phrase we hear a lot, often used in the same way Americans might say, "No problem." There is a sort of laid back, don't sweat the details, things will work out attitude here that seems to be embodied in, "No worries." As part of our cultural education, we unintentionally lived out this phrase last Wednesday. It was actually quite a helpful experience; we may have gained a deeper understanding of the Australian mindset.

Last Wednesday, David and I had a "teacher interview" with Elise's teacher at 3:30 pm. Hannah's interview was the next day at 3:45 pm. These appointments were clearly marked on my wall calendar. I even remember rolling my eyes when the girls brought home the slips of paper detailing the time slots we'd received from the school. In light of the note that had said the school would do its best to schedule sibling interviews back-to-back, the sequential times on different days seemed a bit ironic - but oh, so Australian.

About 3:15, I decided to double check details before heading out the door. All I could find in the Hannah/Elise slot on my desk was a reminder from Hannah's teacher that said that her interview was at 3:45 pm. . . Wednesday. I had written myself a note on the bottom that Elise's interview was at 3:30 pm. . . Tuesday. I had made a mistake. I had written down the wrong days on my calendar! Worse, this mistake, unnoticed until now, had caused us to be a no-show for Elise's teacher yesterday. Now, I have NEVER missed a parent/teacher conference in the 9 years I've had kids in school; in fact, I take pride in my ability to handle the schedules of our 5 member household. Pride duly subdued at this point, however, I pondered how to apologize to Elise's teacher and whether we should show up at the school at 3:30 per the girls' expectations or just arrive at 3:45 for Hannah's interview.

Then, the phone rang. It was Hannah; did I realize her interview was this afternoon at 3:45? Yes, I did. I asked her to check with Elise to see if by some miraculous chance her teacher could still squeeze in an interview with us at 3:30. A few seconds later, Elise was on the phone telling me that yes, our interview with her teacher was at 3:30. After a few more questions, I realized that Elise's interview had been scheduled for Wednesday, not Tuesday, after all; the interviews HAD been scheduled back to back all along! I'm still quite sure our original notes from the school had them on different days, but my mistake worked out beautifully in the end, even adding efficiency to our schedule. What can I say but. . . no worries!

To end this day, David went to the video store to return a DVD. It was 2 days late. Last time we returned a video, we got slapped with an unexpected huge late fee weeks after the fact. We're still not sure if that video was late or not. So, with all this in mind, we wanted to square away our account immediately with the clear understanding that this particular DVD was only 2 days late. When he returned home, I asked David about the late fee. "Oh, there was no fee. They said it wasn't late." I don't get it. It was rented on a Monday and due the next Monday. This was definitely the next Wednesday. But hey - no worries! Everything worked out just fine this day. We're living in Australia!