Momentary Flashes of Brilliance

It is tough being surrounded by brilliance.
How would you like to be the child that could be counted on to forget your purse at the restaurant?
Or the wife whose motto is, “Nice people always find my stuff.”
Occasionally, I get a glimpse of what it would be like to have a memory.
I had one of those momentarily brilliant flashes recently.
“Is there anything I can bring home for you?” I asked my married daughter over the phone as I was leaving her old apartment where her sister still lives.
“Ooh. Could you take my bike to your house?”
Please understand, the bike had been there so long that there were vines growing over the tires until it is in danger of becoming a bicycle-shaped topiary. Very artistic.
Usually it is me with the artistic habit of forgetting things indefinitely.
My real friends volunteer helpful information all the time. Important information, like today is the day your son needs to turn in his science project. Or tomorrow is the deadline for your article.
I smiled as I loaded the rusty bike into the back end of my SUV. I felt gratified.
You know the feeling?
It must be the same as making the hoop from midcourt in the final seconds of the game. Whoosh!
Or being the first in the class to shout out the right answer to a math problem. Any math problem. Even if you are an adult visiting your child’s 5th grade math class, not that I am admitting that I have ever done that.
There are advantages to being forgetful, for instance, my children have really low expectations.
Some of my greatest moments in their young lives are the days when we arrived at school and realized that they were all wearing shoes at the same time on each and every foot. Not only that, but they all had socks on each foot, too. And mom was wearing shoes, too.
I always gave myself bonus points if I just got there with each child.
“Where are you mom?” asked an irritated voice calling from the school at 3:15 the other day.
“Isn’t this the day you have a private music lesson with your teacher?” I responded sweetly.
“Oh, yeah. I better go. Bye.”
And mom scores!
I consider it my ministry to make other people feel good about themselves.
So, for instance, if you feel like a failure when it comes to keeping your house clean, you are invited to my house. I have all kinds of original housekeeping solutions.
I would write them down in a list for you, but that would require me to remember what they are. Or even what we were talking about.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and educates her children in Texas. Comments are welcome at cathykrafve@gmail.com.