I agree with sally except dinner time is 5 here. it used to be 6 but my broken tummy needs food in it 5 hours before I lay down or I back wash...so 5 is my only change.

I hate when folks are vague, that means they are so busy that they themselves dont know exactly when they will be done with that last errand before they finally make it to your house. You can always say "thats too vague for me, can we schedule a real time? Lets say you will be here BY 11 AM and if you cant make it by then, you will CALL ME and tell me when you will be here. waiting makes me nervous and anxious, so if I have a set time for you, I wont be constantly looking out the window."

I hate when you are expecting someone "about" a certain time. I am constantly looking out the window. "was that them?" or hearing car doors everywhere! "was that her?" makes me crazy!

When throwing a party or family thing, my brother and his wife told my father (who tended to before way early, before party time even, a half hour later time. Her parents tended to be way late and were told a half-hour earlier arrival time. It worked and no one ever caught on.

I remember my Grandma saying, one time when I was dawdling getting ready for church, "Do you know what time we have to be at church?" And I said, "Ten o'clock." She shook her head and said, "No. Church STARTS at ten o'clock. We have to be there at ten minutes of ten."

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, I still use that as a rule of thumb. Being late is sometimes unavoidable, but not usually. We allow enough leeway so that if the phone rings or the cat barfs or we get stuck in traffic (hahaha), we'll still be on time. In other words, ten minutes of. If I'm not a little early, I think I'm late.

We had a saying in high school band "To be early is to be on time and to be on time is to be late" or something like that. I'm just about always late now and I blame MS. I start with the intention of being early but I move at a snail's pace so I won't end up with my car in someone's trunk or backseat or laid out on the floor looking like a dying cockroach.

Me, too! It stresses me out to just be "on time".

my mom taught us to be early! this way if we face traffic, or an accident, or forget something and have to go back, we are still there on time. There is no need to run thru the door huffing and puffing spouting excuses. its RUDE to keep others waiting for you, as if you are the queen or something.

I kept that up, and would show up to my jail job about 1/2 hour early, just so I could sit outside and collect myself before I went into that bad place. Found out husband was doing the same. We called it "putting on our jail skin" and it provided us with ample time to prep for the day ahead.

When the chiro says 10am, we are there at 9:45 am and we listen to a book on tape in the car till 5 of. I think my husband would explode if we couldnt be early. me too!

I used to be an early bird....till MS. Now, if I don't start getting ready at least 2 hours before I plan on leaving.......I'm late.

No more spontaneous stuff. Everything must be planned and planned well in advance. I hate being so rigid but anything else makes me all kinds of anxious.