Every night as I put Baby Girl to bed – in her own room! – I sit and stare at the Dr. Suess print on the wall across from me. It’s hanging ever so slightly crooked. Every night I tell myself I should fix it – that I will fix it because it is annoying to me. Every single night I put her in bed and sneak out. And I forget. And the print is still hanging crooked.
For two weeks I reminded myself to remove the two tupperware containers full of over-ripe cut up watermelon from the refrigerator and clean them out. Every day I would forget to do it. One day as I was speed washing dishes I actually remembered. And because my stepdaughter was here I was able to say “BRING ME THE WATERMELON CONTAINERS!” Of course she showed it to me before she threw the fruit out in the yard. It had grown little frozen spikes and looked like something out of a horror movie.
The other day I actually had to dump out an almost entire bottle of wine. GASP! I had forgotten that it was in the other fridge for about a month (after having been opened of course) and boy, that sure didn’t taste right. Of course I tasted it! Wouldn’t you?! Who voluntarily throws out a whole bottle of wine that could possibly be consumed?! Not me.
Speaking of wine, I have a gift of a bottle of (thankfully and currently unopened) wine for my assistant trainer for something she did for me …. hmmm… maybe in May? Been so long I’ve forgotten that part too. Anyway, it’s also been in my fridge for however long that is, even though I keep telling her I’ll put it in the barn for her. It’s probably going to end up being my emergency go-to one of these days. Sorry kid. Maybe next time.
Last night I was giving a lesson and the mom said to me – can we come on Wednesday for an extra lesson – what do you have booked on Wednesday already? I looked at her blankly. Wednesday? Isn’t that like in two days? Lord, I don’t know. It’s a damn good thing I do a monthly calendar because otherwise I would not remember any of these lessons. As it was, I was already teaching Monday evening because I had forgotten that the lesson was supposed to be Monday morning. Totally my bad. Sorry about that.
I swear I’m not a terrible house keeper or a completely unorganized instructor. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m extremely reliable and pretty OCD about my house. Sometimes I just have to close my eyes to the ridiculous mess of Hurricane Toddler and Unconcerned Teenager. Seriously they are almost worse as teenagers as far as mess-making goes. The other day Unconcerned Teenager actually said to me “this house is a mess.” And I, after inwardly seething with resentment, returned with “this house is always a mess.” NOT TO MENTION it doesn’t matter how much you clean it – it will STILL BE A WRECK until people literally no longer live in it. I also wanted to say “CLEAN IT THEN” to Unconcerned Teenager. But I refrained. Barely. I just poured myself another glass and kept my mouth shut.
And, as far as lessons go – I used to be able to tell you a month out who was doing what, and when. These days? Not so much. The monthly calendar is my go-to, every morning. Now what the hell am I supposed to do today? I ask as I pour the first glass. Of Diet Coke! Don’t judge.
Turning 42 today. Feeling every damn bit of it. Forgotten what was the point of this blog post…
Wait until you’re almost 58. Today my boss asked me to follow up on something I did for him. I said no, other co worker did that. He said I had done it and damn him, he was right. 10 years ago that wouldn’t have happened. I have Fred Mertz syndrome. I can’t find my glasses. Oh here they are on my head. Duh.
Just wait dear girl. Just wait. Wait until you live on heavy doses of drugs to ease the pain so you can even get out of bed. Just wait until you get bored being retired and get a part time job you love that strengthens my brain cells to help recover from a disease which was not diagnosed for months so you had brain damage and damage to every other organ in your body because no doctor figured out what was wrong so you were deprived of oxygen for months and ended up not being able to read or spell or put letters together into a word.
So dear girl, enjoy the”sometimers” you have at 42 where sometimes you remember and sometimes you don’t. Enjoy that you live by the calendar and you, your family, your friends, and your clients all understand this one things – if it is not on the calendar it is NOT getting done.
Enjoy joy the unconcerned teenager because all too soon Baby Girl will be an unconcerned teenager. Time goes fast. Soon Baby Girl will be grown and in college and then your calendar will not be so cluttered.