As I approach my fifty $%^#* th birthday, this getting old thing is getting on my nerves. After all, I don’t have any grey hair and don’t have big furrows in my face. (Actually I have a wonderful hairdresser and a few too many pounds to thank for that.)

What I do have, however, is an increasing tendency to forget things. Granted, I’m not as bad as others around me who will go unnamed, but it’s pretty annoying when it happens.

Earlier this week I decided to drive up to the outlet mall in nearby Wisconsin to get some items. Usually I don’t do this drive — it’s close to fifty miles, but I wanted to go to a specific outlet store that was likely to have a name-brand purse at a reduced price.  When I got to the outlet mall, I discovered that one of the stores I was looking for was no longer in that mall, but was in Illinois, at another mall about fifteen miles back south on the expressway. I went to both malls, got what I needed and figured I had had a successful shopping foray.

Sadly, I decided that I had to return something that I purchased and I wanted to get it done before we left on vacation, so I saddled up the trusty Honda and zoomed up to Kenosha again. If you’ve never driven the stretch of highway between the northern suburbs of Chicago and Kenosha, Wisconsin, you don’t know what you are missing. Although there are always police cars out ticketing drivers in this section, you take your life into your own hands if you drive the posted speed limit.  Everyone is driving at least fifteen miles an hour faster, including the trucks. Add construction season to that and the beginnings of 4th of July traffic, and it was a nightmare (What’s a daymare?).

Now we get to the forgetful/I’m getting as old as dirt part. As I was pulling off of the highway in Kenosha, I started laughing out loud. I had made the same mistake not once, but twice. The place I needed to return the items to was back at the Illinois mall. Of course I took advantage of my situation and did a little shopping, but given my time constraints, I had to rush back to the other mall and then rejoin the traffic, which had gotten even crazier while I was off the highway.

I guess we need to be thankful for small things when we get to the advanced age of fifty %&$#. I did get gas for 20 cents less than it is where I live. I didn’t use quite all of it up with my extra mileage, and I took care of my business. If that’s the best I can hope for, I’ll take it.

Have a safe and happy holiday and I’ll join you “live” in a couple of weeks.