So, my observation of national I Forgot Day, which is today, seems to have begun two nights ago, like the first gathering of flakes for a giant snowball, when I got sucked into watching an encore showing of “The Client” on cable. You know, the Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones movie based on a John Grisham novel? Barry the Blade?

Anyway. Because I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. watching said movie, I was tired, punchy and groggy all day yesterday. This morning rolls around and my phone rings. It’s a lady from the Iowa Arts Council calling to tell me I’d forgotten something on my grant application, which I’d finished and turned in yesterday, the tired, punchy, groggy, post-Client day. I’d no sooner hung up the phone when it rang again, this time with a friendly reminder from the library that I’d forgotten to return an audio book by its due date, which had been, again, yesterday.

I started a load of laundry because I’d forgotten to start it yesterday and my kids were out of clean underwear. But when I went to make them breakfast, I realized I was out of milk, because I’d forgotten to buy it…yesterday. When I went to switch the wet clothes to the dryer, I realized, after a suspicious sniff test, that while in my flustered state from the two chastising phone calls, I’d forgotten to put detergent in the washing machine. Enter wash cycle #2. As I sit here and type this, I’m looking at a plant in my office that has completely wilted and laid down in exhaustion because I forgot to water it, ahem, yesterday.

 So now, it’s not even noon of National I Forgot Day, and I seem to have properly paid my respects.

 In further celebration of I Forgot Day, I’ve compiled a list of a few personal Hall of Fame I Forgot moments:

 -I once forgot how old I was and spent ten minutes arguing with my husband over whether I was 33 or 34. (He was right, I was 34. Bah! Humbug.)

 -I once forgot how to spell “grammar” while writing it on a chalkboard in front of a classroom of writing students.

 -I once forgot that I’d signed my kid up for an after school basketball clinic and when he didn’t get off the bus, I freaked out and called the school in a panicked snit.

 -I once forgot that my other kid had an after school birthday party and when he didn’t get off the bus, I freaked out and called the school in a panicked snit.

 -I once took my kid to a dentist appointment, only to realize that, after the confused receptionist couldn’t find him on the schedule, he was supposed to be at a doctor’s appointment, not a dentist appointment.

 -I once forgot my husband’s birthday. And let me tell you, I’ve never forgotten it since.

What I’m reading: Tell Me Something True by Leila Cabo

 Best book I’ve read so far this summer: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana DeRosnay

 Words to live by: “The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.”     –Nietzsche