I am an organized person.  OK, I'll admit it.  My organization skills border on the line of anal.

Nay.  I'm WAY over that line.

When it comes to softball, I am uber organized.  I won't even bore you with the details.  But let's just say that I'm ON the details.  I like to be prepared.  Spreadsheets and lists are my friends.

Here's my dilemma...

I offered to run an all day softball skills clinic for the island of Aruba.

I thought, sure.  I've done softball clinics before.  I have a background in event planning.  This will be a piece of cake for me.  No worries.

Yeah - I seemed to have forgotten that Arubians are a laid back culture.  They aren't referred to as One Happy Island because they sweat the small stuff.  They truly are the nicest, happiest people I have encountered.  That's why I love it here.  I love not only the weather and the ocean, I also love the people.

But...

That small stuff that they don't sweat?

Dude, when planning something as large as an all day sports clinic IT"S ALL ABOUT THE SMALL STUFF!

Details.  Details.

Details like: How many girls will be attending?  Who will I have to assist me?  What equipment do we have available?

These details are all extremely instrumental in planning.  I can handle either a large or small group - as long as I can prepare in advance.  The proper way to run such a clinic is to split into drill stations.  And unless I develop a cloning machine between now and then, I cannot run 2 drill stations at a time myself.

Right now, we know there will probably be around 60 girls.  Ish.  Another TV spot is going on air today inviting more.  So, 60 more could sign up between now and tomorrow.  I'm willing to bet some girls don't sign up at all and just stroll in tomorrow morning.

And that help part?

I've been teaching "my" team, the one I've been helping for the last few years, how to run drill stations and what I hope to accomplish.  But, they're just kids.  They will be great assistants.  Someone knowledgeable NEEDS to lead these stations. It's too much to expect them to take the ball and run with it completely.

When I started getting put on TV to promote the clinic, we realized that this could get large FAST.  With the help of our close friends, we reached out to sponsors, hoping to bring back my husband and niece to help me.  They are the two people I can trust to run things my way.  Don't even get me started on my control issues.  Ahem.  My way is the right way: proper mechanics using proper kinesiology while keeping it fun.  No standing around.  Everyone is engaged and busy and learning.

Nothing happens quickly in Aruba when it comes to paperwork.  We know that.  We started the whole seeking sponsors process late because we hadn't even considered it as an option.  Then there was a holiday and the entire island shut down for the long weekend.  As the days have passed without an answer, I've been getting increasingly anxious.

It's come down to this...

I won't know until 11:30 this morning if my husband is on a flight out of Boston.  The clinic is at 9am tomorrow morning.  Oh, yeah.

Essentially, I cannot solidify my timeline and plans for the day until I know if he is on that flight.  Not only would I love for him to handle drill stations, but he has gathered additional equipment for me.  At this point, I NEED this equipment in order to pull off an organized and fully scalable clinic plan.

I'm in a holding pattern and it's killing me.  No one else seems worried about it.

Don't get me wrong.  I love softball.  I love that spark you can see when a young player GETS IT after I've taught them something.  It's priceless.

But...

I cannot wait to wake up on Sunday morning and be on vacation.  I really hope when I roll over, my husband is there beside me.  We can seek out a TV and watch covereage of a successful clinic.

My mantra until then: No worries.  No worries.  No worries.