Forgetting I Remembered to Do Something

The other day I drove 26 miles home from work at lunchtime because I was certain I had left the iron on. I know everyone has had the experience. Turning the iron off, locking the door and other mundane tasks are such an instinctual part of the morning routine you can easily do it without thinking about it, and then it does not register in your brain.

On this day, I simply could not remember turning the iron off. I could not concentrate on work because I kept calculating how much damage an iron could do. Would it ruin the room, or the whole side of the house? How would I know my house had gone up in flames? My neighbor does not have my phone number. Given we have no drapes I think the damage would be relatively minor. Aren't window treatments always the first to go? At least in those old PSAs they were.

Thanks to a forgiving boss who has her own neurotic behavior related to the straightening iron (Turn off, tell yourself you turned it off, unplug, check again) I was able to head home at lunch.

Of course, the iron was not on.

I found this blog post from Apartment Therapy on things to do in order to remember you've turned off an appliance.