Locked Out

As time continues to pass since the last time I have seen Jeff, the more absent-minded and scatter-brained I become. I have noticed it is getting progressively worse and today I exemplified the epitome of it. Or, at least I hope!

I noticed a downfall on my morning drives to school. Each morning when I headed to work last year, I was in the car to hear a secret bonus word. This bonus word could be turned in for points on the radio station's website and eventually can earn you prizes. Oddly enough, on my drive home in the afternoon, I hear another secret bonus word. So, with that, I figured I should sign up and pop these words in for prizes. And,   I did. Each day I would hear the words and have no problems remembering when I signed on to plug them in. In fact, I seemed to remember them for weeks. The word, the day they were chosen, and the exact times they were given. I have that weird kind of Rain Man memory sometimes.

As this school year has progressed, I have found it harder and harder to remember the words that I hear on my morning drive. In fact, I started forgetting it by the time I got out of the car that same morning. This was a warning signal that I am slowly losing my mind, much like morning sickness is a warning sign of pregnancy.

Today, however, went well beyond forgetting the secret bonus words. In fact, I actually remembered the secret bonus words today. Both of them, couple and ice. I popped them into the website and declared that I must be having a good day!

My uncle always likes to not only shut the garage door, but lock the door that goes into the mud room. Hoping to please him, I try to do this as well. So, when I stepped out to take Shea for a ride, I made sure to lock the garage door before leaving. To my surprise, I went to get in my car and I was locked out. My keys were not in my bag where I was expecting them to be. Luckily, the garage has a password. Being the coldest day of the season so far, I was not about to sit outside in 25 degrees. Shea and went in the garage and tried to entertain ourselves while I sifted through my non-existant options.

Freezing to death crossed my mind, as I knew my uncle was going out to dinner tonight. He wouldn't be home for hours. My phone came in handy, and so did my saint of a mother, who offered to drive down and pick me up. While waiting for her, to my surprise, the garage door began to open. My uncle had, moments earlier, made the decision to change out of his work clothes and into jeans before he went out to dinner. God bless the man! Shea and I were saved!

I would love to say that I will never make that mistake again, but with my frame of mind, you never know. Jeff keeps me sane. Currently, I am not!