The Yiddish expression “Der Mensch Tracht, Un Gott Lacht,” means “man plans and God laughs.”

While we go about planning our days and lives, we sometimes learn that God or the universe or whatever we call our higher power has another plan for us.

It’s a saying that resonates with the year-plus lost to COVID. 

“Our best-laid plans in life can be upended by unexpected changes, which could be either disappointing or exhilarating. Personal or other setbacks, losses of loved ones, illnesses or accidents, broken hearts or tortured souls, are not uncommon occurrences in our lives. On the other hand, fate can provide unanticipated good fortune or heartening experiences,” states a 2016 Psychology Today article I came across while researching the idiom, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.“

A couple of years ago in this space I wrote about an ankle injury that forced me to take a time out (“Life in the slow lane,” Oct. 15, 2019), as injuries often do. After recently re-injuring that same “loose” ankle (as the doctor described it), this time doing some serious damage, including breaking off a chunk of bone, I had surgery this month to repair it.

In the days leading up to my surgery, my denial of how it was going to affect me is now laughable.

I told my coworkers I’d be on crutches for a few days. I took a single day off for the procedure, figuring I’d be recovered enough after the weekend to jump right back into work (so to speak). I considered driving myself to the surgery so as not to have to ask anyone to go with me. 

I was way off base on all counts. 

I didn’t take into account the unforeseen, or the fact that I’d need to lean hard on my “people” and basically give in to a new “plan.”

It’s not the easiest thing for me to ask for help — even when I really, really need it. Turns out I needed a lot of help from my (fortunately very closeby) sister and brother-in-law, who not only drove me to and from surgery, but also took me into their home for a week when I was unable to walk or do much of anything for myself. I had to ask for additional days off work, and I needed to board my dog for a week so she wouldn’t knock the newly-fragile me over. I also needed to cancel in-person meetings and events for the rest of the year.

I needed to let go of the wheel.

Sometimes we have no choice but to take a step back.

I’ll be in this place of recovery and reflection for the next month or so, and any plans I had are in a holding pattern.

Going through the pandemic has given me, and I think all of us, some valuable experience with coping with unknown, unforeseen challenges. 

I may not know where things are going, and I may not be OK at the moment, but I know I’ll get through. 

Editor Michelle Karas has called the Pikes Peak region home for more than six years. Contact her at michelle.karas@pikespeaknewspapers.com.

Michelle Karas