I nearly forgot the birthday gift at home

Dear Delyara, One child in the back seat, hair done, shoes on, card written, party outfit correct, and somehow the actual present was still sitting by the front door where I had very sensibly placed it “so I wouldn’t forget it.” I turned the car around in a wave of self-disgust so strong it made me feel dramatic and foolish at the same time. The thing is, it wasn’t the gift. It was what the near-forgetting represented. I had done all the visible pieces correctly and still almost missed the central one. That feels too much like my life sometimes — carrying fifty details and still somehow missing the one that matters most at the worst moment. We got there on time. No one knew how close I came to crying in the car. I knew.