Off the leash (and out of my mind)

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It’s gotten to the point where I need a checklist for taking our dog Gracie to the off-leash park.

Park pass? Check.

Ball cap? Check.

Sunglasses? Check.

Car keys? Check.

Clean-up bags? Check.

Filled water jug and bowl? Check.

Leash? Check.

Driver’s license? Check. Dog? Check. Short-term memory?

Short-term memory?

Where was I going?

Oh, yeah. The dog park.

 

This morning, because it was so hot, we swung by the lake after the dog park. I wanted Gracie to get a cooling swim, which she did. Except that I put the leash back on her when we left the dog park, and forgot to remove it before she jumped in the water.

She was doing fine until she saw the leash trailing behind her in the water. It must have looked deadly, because she yelped and scampered out of the lake. I caught up to her and detached the soaked leash.

Then I put the leash across the top of the car to dry out while she swam some more, which at the time, I knew full well was stupid, because sure enough, I forgot it was on the roof when we drove away from the lake. Luckily, the leash banged the back window as it flew off the car, so I realized my mistake.  I hit the brakes, saw the leash laying on the road behind me, got out, grabbed the leash, and hopped back in.

“Good work,” I told myself. I left nothing behind…this time.

It reminded me of the crazy day twenty years ago when I took two toddlers and an infant with me to pick up my computer after it had been repaired. With my two toddlers holding on to the stroller that contained the baby, I pushed the stroller with one hand and balanced the computer on my hip as we walked back to the mini-van.

I put the computer on the curb and slid open the back passenger seat door so my two mobile children could climb in.  I strapped the baby into the infant seat in the middle row, then strapped in his brother beside him. I climbed partially into the van to check the seatbelt on my daughter in the back. It was secure. I backed myself out, collapsed the stroller, stashed it on the floor next to the baby, shut the door, walked around the car to get in the driver’s seat, and drove home.

It wasn’t till I got home that I remembered I’d forgotten to put the repaired computer into the car.

When my husband came home from work that night, I began my tale with the good news first.

“I didn’t leave one of the kids on the curb at the computer store,” I said…