THAT MOM...007

In my life, I have been known to be a bit lax with details. You can read that as unorganized, forgetful, lazy, absent-minded, distracted, short attention span, etc. And all of those are probably correct. I just prefer to think of it as big-picture minded and that life is too short to worry with all the minuscule details. This trait often gets me into trouble. Recent example...out to dinner with some friends, too caught up in the conversation to realize I left my purse under the bench in the waiting area, discover it only when I go to pay, luckily it was still there (I do carry a small sampling of the Voth-good-luck-gene), pick up my leftover box and make the comment "I might forget my purse, but I'm not forgetting these leftovers", go in the house and go to bed, then the next day when I get in my car discover my leftover box! This is just one in a million examples I could use, but you get the idea.

Last week, the oldest and I were going to Hawaiian Falls Water park with another family. I thought that it would be no problem to zip right in the post office to mail my mortgage payment on the way to the friends' house. This seemed like a reasonable task until you factor in the Tracie variable.

As I am releasing the envelope, I notice that it is missing one vital detail...the stamp. If it weren't the mortgage payment, I might have had time to let it run its course and be returned to sender. However, my time frame was not that flexible.

I have to go inside to figure out the next step. Remember we are on our way to the water park, so I am in my swimsuit. Thankfully I was wearing a dress over it. Unfortunately, the 6-year-old was not. Not only am I delaying her trip to water wonderland but now I have to drag her in to the post office wearing only a swimsuit. As is to be expected there is a bit of a wait. I speak with a manager and she said that she would send an employee out to collect the container. Wait again for the employee. He emerges with a giant rolling cart which I'm assuming is a replacement for the one he is about to remove from the mailbox. He says, "You mailed it without a stamp (like this is quite possibly the first time this scenario has happened with a touch of disdain in his voice)? Let's hope it is close to the top, because you could be digging for a while."

The Voth-luck strikes again. The envelope was flipped upside down and wedged into the corner a bit, but I recognized it right away! Whew! The day is saved. My daughter, who is much annoyed but very familiar with this type of behavior, congratulates me for my victory and then says, "NOW can we go to Hawaiian Falls. I told you it wouldn't be a quick and simple errand." They never are.