Traveling ... through time...

I've always been a fairly efficient and organized person. In fact, at one point I was known in some circles as 'The Organizer'. I could juggle children, husband, work and various and sundry projects with relative ease. I made reservations, planned parties, chaired meetings, balanced checkbooks, prepared budgets ... and dinners, with relative ease.

I know I can still do it all, albeit perhaps with a bit less speed, but recently there have been a few.... well... glitches.

It started about a year ago.

I made airline reservations to go to our son's wedding. A relatively simple process - something I've done countless times. I found the flights, dates and and times I wanted, and called the airline. Because it was an airmiles ticket, I had to compromise on the airport. I wanted West Palm Beach, they insisted they could only provide me with flights out of Fort Lauderdale. I booked it, they emailed the tickets, I printed them and filed them in our 'Current Travel' file.

Fast forward several months. We head to the airport and arrive in plenty of time at... yes... you guessed it... the West Palm Beach Airport.

"Do you realize you're at the wrong airport?" When the check-in attendant asked me the question, she did it kindly, although I believe there might have been more than a hint of pity in her tone. I cannot repeat my reply here.

Looking back, I realize the error was possibly one of commission - subconsciously I wanted to leave from West Palm Beach; as well as ommission - I forgot to check the tickets - something I've never, ever done before. Talk about mortifying. (As a side note, for a $50 fee, we were able to fly out of West Palm Beach that morning on the flight I originally wanted. And for no fee at all we were able to fly back to West Palm Beach three days later. Go figure.)

I thought I'd learned my lesson.

Until this week. I'd booked several flights in one evening. Me to Toronto; husband to Toronto several days later; both of us to New York a few days after that. Once again the tickets were printed and filed.

Luckily the error in the date was discovered before I showed up at the airport one day early.

I know deep down I'm still the organized and efficient person I always was. True, I sometimes walk into a room and forget why I'm there. I make lists and forget to take them with me. Or read a paragraph in a book twice before I realize I've read it before. But I absolutely refuse to attribute these minor lapses to age. I've come up with a much more reasonable explanation:

Information Overload.