Calendar is already complicated

It’s January, and already the calendar is getting complicated.

Trying to coordinate maximum time with our daughters, their husbands and our grandchildren this summer means working around eight different adult work schedules, school schedules, retirement plans, summer camps and dozens of other obligations.

It’s only January, and we know that a niece of ours has set a wedding date in August.

But we don’t know how big the wedding is going to be or whether we’re invited.

It’s only January, and we know that the Portland High School class of 1966 will get together for a May Sunday afternoon Fort Wayne TinCaps game at Parkview Field.

While I’ve booked a concourse suite, we still have no idea how many will show up. It could be a blast. It could be a bust.

It’s only January, but we’ve already taken a long look at the schedule for this year’s Stratford Festival.

We’ve enjoyed some great theatre up there over the years. This year’s offerings include, in addition to excellent Shakespeare, the musicals “Chicago” and “Spamalot,” with its own brand of Monty Python humor.

Fortunately, the Stratford season stretches well into the fall, so any decisions can be put off for now.

It’s only January, but dinner club has had to tinker with its schedule already.

For more than 25 years, Connie and I have enjoyed being part of a dinner club with Ruth Ann Widman, Dale Widman, Joel and Connie Roberts, and Eric and Pam Rogers. When it started, we got together every two months. Then every four or so. Sometimes it’s easy to schedule. Sometimes — with work and kids and busy agendas — it’s been complicated. This year’s February gathering has already been bumped to the end of March.

(To the uninitiated, a word of explanation: Dinner club simply means that one couple hosts, sets the menu, distributes assignments and recipes to the other couples, and is responsible for the main course. Multiple bottles of wine are required.)

It’s only January, but I’ve already freaked out CR editor Ray Cooney with some tentative vacation/retirement plans.

Connie’s weighing the possibility of retirement this spring, and I’ve proposed marking that occasion with a big trip, a real milestone getaway. No commitment has been made yet, and Ray’s still hoping we’ll put the idea back on the shelf for now. We shall see.

It’s only January, but we have a commencement scheduled for May.

Sally’s husband, Ben, will be receiving his master’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington on May 8. And we will be there to give him a round of applause.

It’s only January, but there’s already been some schedule shuffling involving the family cabin in New Hampshire.

Rest assured, there will be more.

Connie owns the New Hampshire cabin with her sister and two of her brothers. That means sharing. Not just sharing the costs and the maintenance work but sharing the time in residence. And that means working with the busy lives of a couple of generations.

Maybe they can sort that out when Connie and her siblings get together in March at the old family home in Illinois, yet another set of dates to put on the calendar.

It’s only January, but local fixtures like the Jay County Fair and Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association show have been penciled in.

Dunkirk’s Glass Days is something of a mystery in terms of the calendar. The hard-working committee that made it so successful over the past few years has resigned; they’re burnt out and exhausted. But it’s hard to believe at this point that someone won’t step forward to maintain the festival’s tradition, maybe not on the same level but to keep it going while folks regroup.

I’d hate to see that tradition end, and I know I am not alone.

In the past 45 or so years, I think I’ve missed one county fair and one engine show. I’m likely to miss another fair this summer, but at this point the calendar is still in flux.

After all, it’s only January.