When Forgetfulness Strikes

It skipped my mind! I totally forgot it! These statements are common among us. Of course we are not robots but humans! It's inevitable to avoid forgetfulness once in a while in our busy world, where we are always in a rush to attend to so many things. Our minds can get clouded with a whole lot of things at a time, and we tend to forget something very important that could affect our day negatively. I have had such an experience; it can be a frustrating situation, but the most important thing is that the experience taught me some vital lessons.

It all began like my usual busy school days when I wake up early enough to get the kids ready for school. That fateful tuesday morning, I planned on going to Lagos market once I put my kids on their school bus by 7:00 a.m. So the rush was real and can easily make one forget important things. I made sure to pack their bags well and get things I needed inside my own market bag as well. The kids were ready, and I rushed to dress up immediately. Before 7am , I was done preparing to leave the house just after the kids so I could beat the traffic and return home on time. It was a morning filled with pressures to get a lot done within a short time. I was happy I met up with the school bus, not knowing that I forgot an important thing: my son's routine medication!

The neurologist has warned me never to miss that drug and NOT miss the timing as well; very important! My heart sank immediately when I remembered that I missed giving my son his routine medication, which is taken at 7am and 7pm, respectively. I understand the importance of a single dose, as his doctor already took the time to educate me on his health management, so missing that single dose was a bit critical. I wish you could really understand what I mean here, but to say that I felt like the land should swallow me that day was even an understatement of what I felt like. I hated myself; I was hard on myself and called my humble self a careless mom. It's been years since I started giving my son the drugs, and I have been diligently following it up. Why now? How did I miss this? I usually set my alarm, but when I checked , my alarm was off. Who turned it off? I don't know.

At this point, it wasn't a matter of who did this or that; it was a matter of fixing my mess , the result of my forgetfulness. I was almost at the Lagos market by this time, so I had to turn back immediately and take the next available bus. There was no single soul in my home, and the drug is a controlled drug; you can hardly get it at the pharmacy store without a doctor's prescription. So no one to help me at that point but me. As I was returning home, there was stupid Lagos traffic on the road , which I didn't know why at that time of the day, lol. I felt like growing wings so I could reach home and pick up the drugs for my son's school if wishes were horses. I kept calling his teacher to help me watch him closely and be sure he was alright. I was tensed but my goal at that time was to ensure he takes the drugs without missing it totally . The timing didn't matter anymore to me!

Finally , I arrived at his school and gave him the drugs, feeling a bit relieved. The pressure was too much, and I managed it all. I still went back to the Lagos market that day because of the urgency of what I needed to get, but of course the forgetfulness in the morning ruined my day. I can't forget in a hurry how I suffered on the road due to heavy traffic , coming home late at night.

After that encounter, I made radical changes to avoid a similar occurrence. I now set the alarm on three different smartphones in my home to avoid stories. I visited the school and kept some of these routine drugs in their sick bay section just in case I forget; they can help me give them to him immediately. My daily phone reminder at 6:45 a.m. is labeled “Meds Packed? Hahaha , once bitten, twice...

Images were taken from canva