I nearly left the food on the counter all night

Dear Delyara, I remembered just as I was turning the landing light off. There was leftover chicken still sitting in the kitchen, covered but not in the fridge, and the second I remembered it I had that awful sinking feeling tired women know too well. Not because chicken is sacred. Because forgetting one ordinary thing can suddenly feel like proof that your whole mind is slipping one inch past reliable. I went downstairs in bare feet, put it away, and stood there with the fridge door open feeling absurdly emotional over cold food and a plastic container. That’s what overload does. It makes practical mistakes feel personal. Nothing terrible happened. Still, I went back to bed feeling less safe in my own brain than I had an hour before.