Sunday was a great day –
church, lunch, poetry, music, food, friends, great discussions, a beautiful
sunset, and football on TV. Then why did I feel so lousy Monday?
The day started out okay.
I woke up as always before dawn and luxuriated in bed until light seeped
through the blinds. It was cool enough
to wear the long green sweater Jane gave me, when I took the dog out. I greeted
the herd of deer that are now getting used to us and enjoyed our twenty-minute
walk around the neighborhood.
But after breakfast
something happened. All my energy left me. My brain felt dull as putty. So I
drank coffee. But this just gave me a headache. So I took an Aleve. I forced
myself to strip the bed and used all my strength to pull the clean lower sheet
over the mattress.
If John didn't work at
home I might have crawled back into bed but I could hear him on the phone, then
going in and out of the house so I slouched into my office and plopped into my
chair. The hours ticked away.
At four I drank another
cup of coffee hoping it would clear my head for a 5:30 meeting at the Nature
Center. I grabbed my folder and headed out. With ten minutes to spare I decided
to run into CVS for milk. I could leave it in their fridge during our meeting
and not have to stop on the way home.
When I got to the check
out I could not find my debit card. I had some change but no cash. I took everything out of my purse. No card. I
moved aside so the checker could help the customer behind me. Not finding my
card I apologized and went to my meeting.
I sat down at the table,
took off my sunglasses and reached into my purse. My eyeglass case was gone.
Did I leave it at home?
I tried to concentrate on
what the chairman was saying but my mind kept going back to the missing debit
card. Where had I had it last? Oh, it must be in the pocket of my jeans. I'd checked the bank balance earlier in the
day and found no suspicious debits. Yes, it must be at home, with my glasses.
When I got home I checked
my closet. I went through the pockets of the jeans I wore on Saturday when I
went to HEB.
"I bet it's in the
car," John said. This just made me
mad.
"I always put it in
the same place. I would not have left it in the car!" I snapped. I poured a glass of wine. I drank half in one gulp.
John went out and started
searching the car. I looked on the shelf where I leave my glasses. The case
wasn't there. I went into the bedroom, which was dark because I had on my
sunglasses. I turned on all the lights.
No glasses.
Then it dawned on me, I
probably left them at CVS when I took everything out of my purse. I called and yes, my glasses were there.
The sun was setting. Too
dark to drive in sunglasses, plus I'd just drunk half a glass of wine. I went outside and found John vacuuming the
car with a disapproving look on his face. I wanted to rip the plug out of the
socket and silence his favorite monster tool but instead I yelled over it,
"My glasses are at CVS!"
But where was the debit
card? Think, Mary Lee. You went to HEB on Saturday to pick up John's
prescription and got tangled in the sea of families clogging the aisles. It
took forty-five minutes to do what would usually take fifteen. I remember saying to the checker as I left,
"Remind me never to shop on Saturday afternoon again!" She just smiled and nodded.
I called HEB. My debit card was in the lost-and-found. I went outside to tell John. He waved from the car and backed out of the
driveway.
I went inside and
swallowed the rest of the wine. I sat on
the couch and turned on the TV. What was
pink looked orange and faces looked sunburned.
My mind was clearing. Did this mean I'm an alcoholic? Or was my body finally finished processing
the MSG from my Sunday Chinese lunch? Or
did I contact West Nile Virus from the mosquito bites I recently got when I
naively thought I could enjoy early evening on our deck?
John returned with my
glasses and a half-gallon of milk. I thanked him, glad I have someone to come
to my aid when my brain or my body fails me.
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