Calendar Calamity

It’s November! November means cooler weather. November means THREE family birthdays to celebrate. November means Parent-Teacher Conferences at the preschool. November means Christmas shopping, and for our family, it means Ladies’ Shopping Weekend. November means Thanksgiving – the feast, the family, and the overwhelming gratitude. And for the last fifteen years, November has meant it’s time for the Creating Hope 4 Cambodia Sale.

I started as a shopper only at the sale, which raises money for some of the most vulnerable young people in Cambodia to stay in school. I had prayed for Cambodia long before the sale started. Shortly after the sale started, I took a trip to Cambodia. This sale and this cause meant a lot to me. One year, the founder asked me if I would like to create a calendar of my bird pictures to sell at the sale. I jumped on board in 2017, selling a 2018 calendar, featuring some of my favorite Minnesota birds. The next year, I sold a calendar with nature pictures rather than exclusively bird pictures. One year, I sold two different calendars – a nature calendar and one featuring pictures from my trip to Cambodia. After a few years, I added scripture on each calendar page. I think 2019 is the year I decided to also sell a desk calendar with a wooden base. Over the years I have sold other products, also created from the abundance of pictures I take. All of these products took many, many hours to complete. I nudged and futzed until every detail was just as I wanted it, and then I ordered the items from Shutterfly. Over the years, many people have assisted me by ordering the calendars for me when the special pricing was available. I had a whole team of individuals willing to make it all happen. It was a heart-pounding cycle of waiting for Shutterfly’s sales, hoping they would come in time for my items to be on hand at the time of CH4C, and collecting all the many calendars as they were ordered. It was a dance of sorts, and I sincerely appreciated my dance team – and of course, Shutterfly.

My first CH4C calendar

This year, I did things differently. Shutterfly was having fewer of the sales that I needed, and so I decided to purchase a bulk plan for ordering calendars. The pricing wouldn’t be quite as good as that coveted sale price, but the security of having the calendars in hand when I wanted them would make up for that. I did the usual nudging and futzing for many weeks, and then I ordered 31 calendars. When the big box arrived, I opened it in a manner usually reserved for Christmas morning. And…there was a misprint.

On all 31 calendars.

It wasn’t a huge misprint, but I couldn’t figure out how it had happened. I spent about an hour with Shutterfly customer service, and they agreed to comp me so I could reorder for mostly free, paying only a bit of shipping. I saved the calendar four times. I previewed it. I added it to my cart. I previewed it in my cart. All was well this time! I reordered. I waited. The order came.

Thirty-one more calendars had that very same misprint. 

It was impossible. I have no idea how or why the page did not look as I had created it. I wanted to cry.

Now, as I said, it wasn’t a huge misprint. It only impacted one month of the calendar. The image I had chosen was still there. The scripture I had chosen was still there. The difference was that a rectangular embellishment that I had positioned to be behind the text box, making the text more visible, was instead sideways across the middle of the text box. And I won’t lie – it crushed me. There was no time to reorder – and honestly, what would the point be? This page, the way I designed it, was not meant to be.

I vented to my husband and my oldest daughter, and then I took a deep breath and did other things for the evening. I handed out Halloween candy. I watched television. I did the dishes. I went to bed. My thoughts returned to the problem as I fell asleep.

 When I woke up this morning, my thoughts also returned to the calendars, but in morning’s light (or morning’s darkness, as I wake up at 5:00 am) my first thought was, “What can I learn from this? Is it artistic integrity or simply pride that has me tied in knots?” I’m not sure of the answer, but that uncertainty was enough to make me look again at the page with the error. The scripture read, “With God, All things are possible.” Matthew 19:26. The embellishment now emphasized “All things are” and I was reminded of the many people I know right now whose hearts are breaking for valid reasons, not just because of a calendar misprint. I was reminded that God is powerful and able to handle those problems – not just some of them, but ALL of them. And I accepted that my misprint might emphasize those words to someone who really needed them emphasized, come August 2025. 

None of my calendars would be perfect. While that was still disappointing, it was no longer soul-crushing. I realized that I had been overlooking eleven “as-intended” months to focus on one imperfect month. There are so many times when I make my own “stupid” mistakes, and like the misprint on the calendars, I regroup and – I make that same mistake all over again. That kind of mistake colors my perception of everything. It occupies all my thoughts, and moving on is incredibly difficult. This “stupid” mistake wasn’t my fault, but how can I reshape my response the next time it is? I don’t have all the answers, but thankfully I serve a God who does. There will be many prayers and lots of listening in the days and weeks to come.

Finally, my thoughts turned to the extra 31 calendars I have. I suppose I could try to sell them as well, raising more money for this very worthy cause. As I struggle to find a joyful response to all of this, I will do my best to be faithful with what I have been given. Thank you, God, for once again saving me from me.

The calendar page, the way I created it

The calendar page, the way it is printed