Lost in the Cereal

More and more I'm finding myself writing between 10pm and midnight. Not my prime creative hours, by any means. I'm much better right after a good morning shower, where ideas percolate in my head like an old-fashioned cup of coffee. But, as moms everywhere will attest, "me" time is often better known as "left-over time." So while my glorious husband tidied up the kitchen, I worked on writing for a website I'm making.

I was pretty tired, so my reflexes were dull. It took me awhile to register him standing next to me. Looking up, I heard him say, "Were you tired this morning?" My first thought was something like, "I can't remember that far back. Don't interrupt me!"

And then he put an orange juice carton under my nose. "I found this in the cereal cupboard."

I had no recollection of drinking orange juice, or even putting OJ out for the kids. The words came naturally, "I didn't do it. Maybe one of the kids put it in there."

Hubby willingly added, "It was way in the back of the cupboard."

Okay, maybe I had put it there. Lousy memory plagues me even on my best days. So to remember something on a tired day? Yeah, right!

"I guess I could've done it. I don't remember."

So then my Dutch husband asked the obvious Dutch question, "Do you think it's still good?"

And while I have no Dutch bones in my body, ten years of marriage and two kids has conditioned me well for these moments. (Plus, having left a few sippy cups of juice in the van for longer than recommended has yielded expertise in the juice expiration field.) "If it was just there since this morning, it's probably still good. Our house is air conditioned," I added helpfully.

Before my slow senses could comprehend, he had the top off the juice, took a sniff and then a gulp. "Yeah, it's still good." And hubby walked off and put the juice back in the fridge.

What he still doesn't know is that, now that I'm fully awake, I realize I didn't put the juice there yesterday. Nope. I'm almost certain we didn't drink OJ yesterday at all. But the day before we drank plenty!