By now most of my friends (and possibly half of the free world) knows that sometimes I have moments that just defy logical thought. Take, for example, the morning that I happily noticed after my morning shower that a fresh pot of coffee was ready. I asked, out loud, who made the coffee. My husband gave me that “you’ve got to be kidding” look as he informed me that I had started the brew before the shower.
I am one of those people who periodically needs someone to call me so I can find my cell phone (which is a real trick since 99 percent of the time the ringer is turned off). I park my car in the same aisle at work and the grocery store so that I don’t wander the parking lot looking silly when I’m ready to go home. I have stood in church foyers and parking lots digging for car keys, wandered grocery aisles looking for carts, and once left an entire bag of items on the bag-go-round at the local discount store.
I’m really not senile, and I’m certainly not clueless. I think I’ve proven over years of successful education, career, and extracurricular activities that I’m completely capable of rational, productive thought. Yet, I find myself looking for sunglasses that are on the top of my head or digging through my purse for an identification badge that is clipped to my pocket.
One of my most embarrassing “no brain” moments happened a few months ago at church. Hubby loves eggs, and breakfast is the one meal he enjoys cooking. He even has his own special egg pan. I cook with eggs also, so when a gentleman in the church mentioned he had fresh eggs available, we jumped at the chance.
Wednesday is my long day of the week. I go straight to church after work, and stay afterward to practice music for Sunday services. I often don’t arrive home until nearly bedtime. One Wednesday, as I was working in the projection booth, our friend dropped off two dozen eggs. After the service, I gathered my belongings and the eggs and headed to practice, then headed home. Exhausted from the late day, I ate a quick bite and went to bed.
The next evening after dinner, I went to the refrigerator to get eggs for a baked goodie I was to take to work the following day. I noticed only one carton in the “egg spot,” so I looked on the lower shelf for the two dozen eggs fresh from the night before. No eggs.
“Oh, no,” I thought to myself, “I’ve left them in the car overnight!” I ran out to the garage and looked in the car… no eggs. I looked in the kitchen, then went back to the refrigerator. Still no eggs. I went back to the car and looked again. I asked my husband if he remembered seeing the eggs. He did not. After a repeat of retracing my steps, hubby convinced me I must have left them at the church. He assured me they would not spoil to the point of an odor before Sunday, although no one should eat them after over 24 hours of no refrigeration.
Come Saturday, I had to run errands so I headed to the church. I retraced my steps from the projection booth to the piano. No eggs. I searched the pews, as well as the refrigerators in the coffee area and the kitchen. No eggs. I even checked the podium in case someone had left a note to report the recovery of two dozen lost eggs. Sunday came and went with no mention of two dozen unclaimed eggs.
The following Wednesday, our friend again dropped off our weekly delivery of eggs. I held my breath, hoping that he would not ask me about the eggs from the week before. I was headed to the exit when I met the pastor in the hallway. As we exchanged greetings, he asked where I got the eggs and mentioned finding some eggs himself the week before.
Mystery solved.
I think that my problem is not uncommon to any good computer. I’m experiencing RAM overload. I’ve read that a good challenge, such as math problems or word puzzles, helps exercise the brain and improves function. But who has time for playing games when there are places to go, people to see, work to be done, and missing stuff to be found?
I tell myself that I’ll have plenty of time to deal with my RAM issues later. After all, my existing RAM is still handling all the really important functions without any random access errors or missing data.
Missing eggs are another matter altogether…