Forgetting

I got up a few minutes late this morning and had to rush around, trying to get to my doctor’s appointment on time. I made it on time, whew, only to discover that my appointment is tomorrow morning. That in itself is no big deal. I’ve done that sort of thing my whole life. But it’s getting worse and it’s making life more difficult. Luckily my life is easier in a lot of other ways (primarily, less work), so dumb stuff like this has less repercussions. Any given instance is less annoying than it used to be, because I have more slack in my life to be able to go to the doctors two mornings in a row. But my forgetfulness in general has been getting worse, which is a bummer and worrisome.

After discovering that my appointment isn’t until tomorrow, I tried not to get too frustrated and took the scenic route home. The scenic route went right by my favorite nursery, “Green Things.”

I hadn’t planned to go to a nursery so I hadn’t brought the pick-up truck. By the time I got done, the inside of my Mini Cooper looked like this:

That’s the front seat. There were more in the back!

A couple of weeks ago I had a forgetful incident that was actually somewhat scary. I had taken Biska to doggie daycare that morning. She goes once every week or two, for about 4 hours. It operates on a drop-in basis, and I usually take her in sometime mid-morning and pick her back up in the early afternoon. She loves going and playing with all the other dogs. It’s one of her favorite things!

After taking her to doggie daycare, I came home and did housework and exercising and whatever. At some point, I wondered where Biska was. I looked around for her for a little bit and didn’t see her. I grew increasingly worried, but still didn’t remember that she was at daycare.

Suddenly I remembered that I had taken her to doggie daycare, but instead of realizing where she was and being relieved, I felt complete panic, thinking that I had picked her up from daycare and left her out in the car in the driveway. I don’t know why I would even have thought that, but I did, and I panicked. It’s June, it’s 100º out, and a dog will not live very long in a closed car sitting in the direct sun in the driveway. I grabbed my keys and ran barefoot to the car, dreading the worst.

The car was empty, thank god. I still didn’t know where my dog was, but at least she wasn’t dead in the car. I would much rather have her wandering the streets of Tucson making friends with everyone and dodging cars than trapped in a car in the heat. I went back inside and called her again. Where was she?

Finally I remembered she was still at doggie daycare. In fact, it wasn’t even time to go get her yet.

I can understand momentarily forgetting that I had taken her to doggie daycare and looking around the house for her for a minute or two. But once I remembered that I had taken her to daycare, why didn’t I realize she was still there? Why did I imagine I had picked her back up from daycare and left her in the car in my driveway?

It was so upsetting – I still practically start crying thinking about it. In fact, I’m going to go check on where she is right now.

I love my dog!

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Kristina’s Website: Life Coaching for Adults with Autism