The Tale of a Scatterbrained Mom

I cannot be the only one…who used to be able to handle the workings of an entire company, chat on the phone with her best girlfriend about the insane sale they got on their latest pair of killer pumps, and paint their nails all at the same time, and not miss a beat.  Only to jump ahead five years and not only not own any pumps that have been purchased in the last two years, but can’t even remember why they are standing in front of the open silverware drawer staring at it’s contents.  This, my friends, is the sign of a scatterbrained mom…and I am one of them.

For the most part I am able to keep this family running, with little to no incidents of fire or trips to the emergency room, but if one extra layer is added to this family cake, all hope is lost. A close family member was hospitalized last weekend, after days of the old “he’s going home tomorrow” routine, I decided I needed to pay the poor sick-o a visit in the hospital. But as a mom I can’t just decide to visit and simply go for a visit, there are schedules to be rearranged, sitting-on Sonny Boy favors to be called in, and timing to consider in order to eat a meal sometime as well.   

After getting all of my ducks in a row, I started out to the hospital, on the way I spotted a market and thought to myself, “I can’t visit without an offering of chocolate, chocolate makes everyone feel better,” so I pulled into the parking lot to make a quick chocolate run.  I grabbed the essential Ghiradelli salted caramel goodness and walked briskly to cashier where I handed over my treats only to realize…I forgot my wallet.  After apologizing for wasting the cashier’s time, I decided the visit would be sub-par without the chocolate but it was going to have to due, and drove straight to the hospital. 

When I arrived at the hospital I saw the building only offers paid parking, which meant I had to drive and park four blocks away, because no wallet means no paid parking lot.  I finally made into the main entrance of the hospital and became aware that I had no idea where o’where my family member could be. I dipped my hand into my purse to grab my cell phone to call, when…yes, you guessed it, I had forgotten it as well.  I imagined my cell phone and wallet together on the kitchen counter enjoying a good laugh at my scatterbrained expense while drinking cups of coffee, but this imagining got me no closer to finding my hospital bed ridden family member.  Luckily, a rather nice security guard saw my increasingly grumpy knitted eyebrows and offered to guide me to where I needed to be, and I finally paid a visit to my sickly family member.

What is this inability to keep track of more than one thing at a time that happens when you become a mom?  Is it that we have three balls in the air juggling constantly, so that when that fourth ball gets tossed in we loose a beat and let all the balls drop? Either way, this scatterbrained mama needs to rest her frontal lobe before I leave the house without putting on pants (the poor Sonny Boy would be scarred for life).