In Medias Res

Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
- Franklin P. Jones

I could be losing my mind. Sometimes, my life suddenly confuses me. I get this feeling like I have entered a theater after the first act is well underway; and I can’t quite catch up with the plot.

Standing by the coffee pot this morning, waiting for my coffee to brew, I looked out the window at the perfect spring day. I smelled fresh green growing things and coffee. I suddenly couldn’t remember what I was doing there or what I had been doing before. For that moment, I was just soaking in the present and that was enough.

But then, I realized it was probably just an attack of geeziness; a brief burst of static shorting out my short-term memory. Some mornings, I feel as dumb as a pink balloon before I have my coffee. I once invented the inflatable archery target in just such a mood. So it’s not all bad.

I have a good mental exercise to bring me back from the brink of stupidity, and I will share it with you now. I try to remember if my safe word is albatross or applesauce. Some things you can afford to forget. Others, you shouldn’t. By the time the coffee was drunk, I was back to my old self again. It’s albatross.