An Unfortunate Incident with a Jar of Pickles

Um… I’m sensing a food theme developing in my blog… but I am eating for two, right? ;)

So, I feel pretty good this morning about actually making my lunch and bringing it to work with me. I made a submarine sandwhich, took a can of organic root beer out of the fridge, and an apple. Hmm… maybe this lunch is a little bland, I was thinking, so I grabbed the jar of “hot and zesty” dill pickles and threw it in, too. Perfect. Put the plastic lunch bag (ok, its just a grocery store bag) on the passenger’s seat in the truck and off I go. I even had time to stop for coffee (just the drive-thru) an, as I’m in the line-up, I’m thinking to myself, “I better make sure that pickle jar lid is screwed on tight.” So, I check it and all seems fine. I throw my blueberry bran muffin in the lunch bag and finish my short commute to work. Park in the lot, get out and go around to the passenger’s side to remove my purse, my laptop, a bunch of posters that I have tucked inside a garbage bag to keep dry, and my lunch. Then I notice that the garbage bag with the posters is wet, with what I first assume is rain. I check the window, to see if it was rolled down by accident, but, nope, that’s fine. Then I smell something a little acidic… something a bit like vinegar… but hotter, and zestier… and I realize that the jar of pickles has leaked all over everything.

I was saved by the fact that the kids always have extra plastic bags filled with something or the other in the backseat, so cleaning it up wasn’t a big problem. But I cannot figure out why that jar leaked! After all, I checked the lid! Did I accidentally loosen instead of tighten it?

I’m really beginning to doubt my powers of concentration these days. I am just so distracted sometimes. Like later in the morning when I decided to walk to the post office and bookstore in search of 1) thumb tacks (for the posters that I brought with me, of course), and 2) a box in which to mail Daniel’s "care package". Halfway to the bookstore, I realize I have no money, and they will probably not like me trying to use my debit card for a 79 cent item, so I change direction and head to the bank machine. Finally, money in hand, I find the thumbtacks and then get distracted by the display of “BEGREEN” Pilot pens (really cool, made from recycled plastic). OK, 2 pens and a box of thumbtacks later, I think that I might as well get some noodles from the Food Court, since I’ve come this far anyways (oh yes- did you recall that I MADE my lunch this morning!?!?). So, I get the noodles, and I am walking back to my office when I realize I forgot about the box and the post office!! YIKES!!! I am grateful there is no early-set Alzheimer’s in my family, because I would be running to the nearest neuropsychologist for testing!

Maybe I’m just obsessing about adoption too much. But, for a while, I kind of had it together- I was compartmentalizing things really well, focusing on one thing at a time. Now, I’m a mental wreck. Maybe its because I know we’re getting so much closer to actually getting to China and to our little guy. I hope this happens sooner than later, because I don’t think I can cope with walking around in this fog for much longer.