Scatterbrained

In our family, C.R. is the organized one. His scientific and analytical mind appreciates order in the world around him. He's careful and structured and always punctual.

I'm not exactly disorganized, but despite my best intentions, I can be a little messy and scatterbrained.

I'm the forgetful one who panics because I lose things: keys, library card, cell phone, purse, and the list goes on. I may have even lost our kid once, but you'd have to ask C.R. about that because I've already forgotten.

Unlike C.R., I'm not a great planner. I'm terrible at estimating the amount of time it will take to finish a task. If we're running late (and we often are), it's always because of me.

I can also reasonably take credit for most of the hidden disorder in our home. The junk drawers in our kitchen are where I store my packrat tendencies. The overstuffed bathroom cabinet under my sink is where I hoard toiletries. Under my side of the bed is where I stash novels, papers, and journals.

If something is lost or messy, I can safely take the blame.

So on the rare occasion that C.R. is disorganized or forgetful, it's tempting to smugly bring it to his attention.

Today was one of those occasions.

A couple of days ago, he returned a video to the library. (Before the due date, of course. He's never had any overdue items, except the ones I checked out on his library card when mine was lost.) This morning, I found that DVD still in our computer. Apparently, he'd returned only the DVD case to the library.

I smiled at my discovery. It sounded exactly like something I would do, but for once I wasn't at fault!

For a moment, I couldn't wait to call C.R. and gloat (I'm terrible, I know). But he is so gracious about my faults that I decided not to mention it. Instead, I grabbed his DVD, along with a Sesame Street video, and loaded Sunshine into the car for a quick trip to the library.

It wasn't until after we'd returned those items and checked out new ones that it hit me.

I thought that I was returning a Sesame Street video to the library, but Big Bird and friends were still in our computer where I'd placed them this morning. When I was laughing about C.R.'s forgetfulness.
I'd only returned the case to the library.

Rats.

While I was gloating over C.R.'s mistake, I'd made the same one myself.

Figures.