Stress, forget, repeat

I guess it’s good that we fairly quickly forget how stressful something was, like pain. That is unless we’re silly enough to get into the same situation again. For the past several weeks I have been trying to find someone to look after our cat while we're away for Christmas. Like us, most of our friends here are also away visiting family or friends at that time of year and are, therefore, unavailable. I got to the point of not sleeping through the night. I would lie there thinking about cancelling the trip, justifying the cat’s trauma from being in a tiny cattery cage for the duration, wondering if she would be ok with just a bag of food on the floor of the kitchen and a bag of little on the floor of the spare room, contemplating begging random neighbours to let themselves into my house. Do I need to point out that stress and lack of sleep make me a little crazy? Well, last night a saviour, an out-of-colleague of my husband’s, called to ask if she could stay in our house while she’s in the city visiting her family! Now I am writing this so that I don’t repeat my stress. Memo to self: getting a cat-sitter at Christmas time is more stressful than it’s worth – I think. (I’ll have to confirm that once I get back from my trip – presumably the visit will not be exponentially better because it’s Christmastime since we’re not a religious, sentimental family/friend group.)

Swiss cheese elephant brain

I am like an elephant in that I remember things for a very long time - unnecessarily long in some cases. For instance, I remember the time in university when a friend and I were publicly humiliated on a bus by a blind woman. I often recall, in detail, conversations my husband and I have had over the past year and wonder if the confessions made still need to worry me. I mentally relive family Christmases and camping trips. I can often keep useless amounts of celebrity gossip in my head, and I’m not even interested in celebrity gossip. Then, at other times, the swiss cheese factor arises. I go to the supermarket with a plan for dinner and forget to buy a key ingredient. I don’t remember for two days to take my daily migraine-prevention pills. The wrong name slips out for a friend I’ve known for years. I suppose I should be thankful that most of the time the consequences of my swiss cheese brain aren’t too severe. And these slips often keep us entertained.