My brain doesn’t work as well as it used to. It might be because of age or because of head wounds but I have developed a bad habit of forgetting things. When your father had dementia, that is scary but my forgetfulness is more cognitive overload than cognitive degeneration. I’m not leaving my car keys in the refrigerator.
Yet.
It’s just that I have a lot of @#$% to remember and most days I don’t. For example: Last Saturday I helped with Mississippi Today’s People, Politics and the Press. I had brought a Tumbler full of Green Tea with me that morning and as I was hauling stuff back out to my car, I spilled my hand truck — twice. I got flummoxed and was, honestly, really tired (I hadn’t taken a day off in two weeks at that point). So I got home at 9 p.m. and realized I had forgotten my Tumbler.
I have a lot of Tumblers. You know — Yeti-style cups that keep ice for a year or your coffee hot for a lifetime. But this one was special to me. It was a University of Tennessee one, black with a grey T on the side. And it was a Christmas gift from Amy. (She also got me a nifty Baby Yoda one, too — I drink a lot of Green Tea).
I tried not to beat myself up too much for losing it. But I did. I always do that. I tore my car apart and cursed myself royally. I kept picturing my cup alone and frightened. Yes, I am weird.
At 6 a.m. on Sunday, I got up and drove downtown to the Mississippi Museum of Art. I thought, “If I left it when I dropped the stuff on the hand truck, it’s probably still there.” Downtown Jackson is a ghost town on the weekend and I figured the odds of it being picked up were slim. I poked around the outside of the museum. No dice. So on a whim, I emailed the museum and asked if it had been found.
On Monday, I got the word: It had!
So today I drove down in the monsoon for my precious. I got to the front desk, asked for it and was handed a silver Mississippi Today cup. My heart, crestfallen, sank like the Houston Texans. Dejected and sad (yes, I know it was just a damn cup but…) I drove back to the office. When I got back to my computer, there was an email that read, “There was a mix-up, we have your cup! It just wasn’t at the desk.” So like Indiana Jones keeping his drink cup, I went BACK down there. And here it is. The Holy Grail. The cup of life. The Tumbler of T.
So thank you to my friends at The Mississippi Museum of Art. I am at peace again.
P.S. Amy ordered me another one. She’s kind like that.