Stupid things I have done in my life:

I have done a lot of stupid things in my life. The reason I have started this list is to remember and try not to repeat them. Also, last four days have been record breaking because three out of four days I have done something that could have been avoided if I was paying more attention, especially since two out of three of the following involve my son:
It all started on Saturday Morning:

1. Forgot to strap my son:

Almost every Saturday morning we take our train fanatic son for a train ride. This Saturday, riding back home, I looked around to check on my son and saw him standing on his knees, with his back to me, looking out the rearview window. My heart went to my mouth as I realized I had forgotten to strap him in his car seat. We were travelling on a highway and Tushar immediately took the next exit and pulled into the parking lot of a Denny’s. I hugged my son and then strapped him in tight before we headed home again. I could not believe I did that since I strap my son even in his wagon when I am walking 1 mile an hour. I just thank my lucky stars that he was safe and I found out he was unstrapped before something terrible happened.

This is the train ride we go for every weekend

2. Locked my car keys in the trunk:

Sunday went by without any incident. Monday morning was Memorial Day holiday. Tushar wanted to go to the Y; I wanted to go to Lowe’s to get some herbs. I decided to drop Tushar and my son at the Y, go to Lowes and pick them up 40 minutes later. By the time I finished shopping I realized it was time to go. I loaded my herbs, a rose bush and a pair of shears in my trunk, shut it and headed off to deposit the cart. It suddenly hit me - I had left my car keys in the trunk next to the rosemary. By that time it was way past 40 minutes. I called up Tushar to tell him what happened before getting a ride from a kind lady by the name Lorraine. She dropped me at the Y, which was about 5 miles, gave Tushar a ride back to Lowe’s so he could pick up the car with his keys. It was another half an hour, while I waited with my son at the Y, before we could go back home. So, Lorrain, if you are reading this, “Thank you for giving us the ride to and fro from Lowe’s”.
I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if this was the first time I had lost my keys. Before this I have left my car keys in a restaurant and once behind my son’s car seat while I looked for them high and low.
I hope I have learnt my lesson this time.

3. Almost lost my son at the library:

Today I was at the library with two of my friends whose kids are around the same age as my 3 year old. I asked them to look after him while I went to look for some books.
I wasn’t gone five minutes before I could hear my son crying “Mamma, mamma.” With so many kids in the library, at first I wasn’t sure if it was him but I decided to check anyways. And there he was, standing in the middle of the library floor, crying, with a terrified look on his face at having lost his mother.
I picked him up and walked back to the reading area (10 paces away) where my friends were busy chatting. They had no clue he was missing or looking for me. I will grant that one of them is going through a hard time in her personal life and the other one thought (she told me later) I only asked her to look after my purse.
If you have ever lost a child or almost lost track of your child, you can imagine what I must have been going through. If you have never gone through an experience like that, I pray you never have to.
The way I see it, it was stupid on my part to entrust my kid to my friends instead of looking after him myself. Never again.

Coming soon another list of more stupid things I have done in my life.