mr. forgetful

the night before my first day of school ever in my life, i made myself a complete, nutritious lunch. i had a sandwich, a healthy snack - probably an apple or carrot sticks, a yummy treat for dessert, and a thermos full of milk. i put it all in my sweet new lunchbox, and placed it in the refrigerator to keep overnight. the next morning, i imagine, i got up & got ready for school, even got my cool lunchbox with the carefully prepared meal out of the fridge and placed it on the counter. and then i walked right out of the house, up our eighth-mile-long driveway, waited for the bus & went to school for the first time ever, leaving the lunchbox sitting right where i had left it on the counter.



this morning, i got up, took a shower, and got Lucas ready for school. i poured myself a cup of hot, tasty coffee. as i was sipping on the elixir of life, i spotted Lucas' homework binder sitting on the counter & said to him, "oh, we need to take your homework book back to school today so you can get this week's assignments." and i put the binder in a conspicuous place where i wouldn't forget to put it in the car when we left.

about halfway to school, Lucas said, "oh - I'm Mr. Forgetful*. i was going to bring a cup of water to drink." it was then that i remembered i had forgotten the homework binder. i was not surprised. i was telling my chiropractor about my memory troubles not three days ago, and he asked me if i was mildly ADHD. i told him it was highly likely, though i had never been officially diagnosed. i don't really subscribe to the theory that my neuroses can be so easily diagnosed or named.

i can't count the number of times i've had to walk around and around the huge shop floor at work, alternatively looking for the tool i've misplaced & trying to remember what tool i was looking for. or how many times i've come into my office to do something very specific on my computer or send an important email, only to sit down & then stare blankly at my CRT (although i guess they're not technically "CRT's" anymore...) one morning recently i went to make a pot of coffee at work - i'm the only person there who drinks coffee - and it was already made. obviously, i had been the one responsible for the pot of fresh, delicious coffee waiting for me in the breakroom, but i had zero recollection of having made the coffee.

should i be worried? sometimes i think i may have early-onset Alzheimer's, or some other neurological malady. but then i remember the story of my first day of school ever.

*see: Roger Hargreaves' series of very British children's booklets with dubious Anglo-Saxon moral "lessons." Lucas loves them, for some reason.