Expect the Unexpected

There is a saying that goes “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”  It means no matter how well you plan something, things can happen that disrupts those plans.  And that certainly happened with the Fiber Artist group of which I am a member.

We planned a show and sale at our local library where we meet. We made a reservation of the library auditorium in March.  Then the library had some personnel changes and through the shuffle (even though I confirmed the reservation), another group was schedule for the same day and time for the library auditorium.  They needed the room and the projection screen since their event was bigger than ours we were moved.

Now we had put out advertising for our show and sale so we couldn’t change the date (and so had the other group so they couldn’t change), so that meant moving to another part of the library.  Now this library isn’t real big so there are not a lot of rooms we could use.  We decided on the lobby. 

And this is where ‘the best laid plans’ idea comes in.   In the auditorium there were sound proof walls where we could hang quilts and other artwork.  It was also a little more formal looking than the lobby.  But the lobby had better lighting and it would put us out where people coming to the library could easily see us.  It meant coming up with another way to display our art.   I told one member, now is when our creativity comes through.

The other group now using the auditorium had to pass by us on their way to the auditorium, so that meant more people in the lobby area and more potential customers.  The staff member who made the error felt so bad, she went above and beyond to advertise our event through the library website and social media.  The reservation mix-up probably got us more publicity.

While we were frustrated with the whole situation, it actually turned out to be something good in the end.  You could see us as you walked into the library and so some people who knew nothing about our show and sale or even new about our group wandered among our tables to see what was what.  I think we got more people than if we had been in the auditorium.  It did mean we had to figure out how to display our items differently but that turned out OK.  I kept an unofficial count of people who walked by my table ( and I was at the end of the lobby) and the turn out was pretty good. So the “sometimes goes awry”, sometimes actually goes the right way.

If you have a situation, you have planned to the last detail and it gets disrupted, don’t give up.  Sometimes things work out for the better.

©2018- Cheryl Fillion