The Forgotten

Today I was in the area of a Lion’s Choice (it’s essentially Arby’s, St. Louis style) for lunch, so I offered to pick up food for a coworker. However, I got so excited when I saw they had root beer floats on the menu (they’re my kryptonite, if kryptonite is delicious and drinkable) that I forgot to order anything for my coworker. I realized my error as I was walking out of the restaurant, so I hurried back in to place the order, thus preventing my coworker from going all Hungry Hippo on me.

Crisis averted. And in the process, I remembered a good story about forgetting from my past.

I had been dating a girl–we’ll call her Lindsey–for a few months. It was Easter week, and a few friends were having an Easter brunch at their house, so I invited Lindsey along. She lived on the way to the brunch, so I arranged to pick her up at 11:25 for the 11:30 brunch.

When I arrived at the brunch, the hosts were about 30 minutes behind schedule on several key dishes (the ham? The Easter bunny? I have no idea what was served that day), so we didn’t sit down to eat until noon. There were about 10 of us there. We served up the food and started eating and chatting. It was the ideal way to spend an Easter afternoon.

But something felt a little off. I had the funny feeling that I had forgotten something.

And then it hit me.

I had forgotten to pick up Lindsey.

It was 12:15 by this point, so she had been waiting for the last 45 minutes for me to get her. This was in the era of cell phones, but I can’t remember why she didn’t text or call (or maybe I just didn’t hear the text or call).

I told my friends what had happened as I stood up to go get Lindsey. I mean, what else but the truth could I have told them?

In the end, Lindsey wasn’t too mad, and my friends didn’t say a word as to not embarrass her. Everything worked out fine, just like the Lion’s Choice today.

Have you ever forgotten someone? A sibling, a significant other, maybe even a child?