My life seems to be controlled by forgetfulness.

Recently it left me in the darkness.

I wish I could blame my age on it. Not many people can usually call 42 an advanced age, but if it works, I will go with it.

Mine started at a much younger age.

My Mom once told me that I was expected to be born on January 11th.

I think that is where it all started, I forgot to be born that day and was born late the next day.

I overslept I guess.

From that moment on. I was bright in school, yet very rarely got A’s for one simple reason.

Never wrote down homework assignments.

.After all, I told myself that I would remember that and didn’t need to write it down.

I see that I started lying to myself at a young age too.

I never seem to ever have a favourite TV show for the very same reason. I would forget the times they were on. Today, since there is Netflix and Hulu, that is not as big an issue.

But back in the day, I would forget they were ever on.

I only found out recently how X-Files ended, and can you believe they took Home Improvement off the air?

If my wife didn’t drive us to the JP, I think I would have forgotten to get married.

So as you see, I am a forgetful type.

I am always forgetting where my keys are. I never wear watches. I have two, but I can’t find them. For years none of my friends knew I wore glasses.

Because I could not find them.

But it is only about little things. I can recite things I have written word for word. Tell you what people have said and done with me years ago as if it just happened. I can even tell you what happened 500 years ago.

Just not what happened five minutes ago.

Which brings me back to my original thought process. I admit it I had mostly forgotten.

Being forgetful can cause darkness in your life.

So here I was a few days ago. Typing away on a website I manage when the room went dark. At first, I thought a bulb had burnt out, but the computer had shut off as well.

Freak storm? No, not a cloud in the sky.

Well, let me go check the breaker. Of course, my dog Bernie gets out and before I can check the outside breaker, so I need to chase him down.

Forgot to grab a leash to walk him back on, so I carried the 60-pound dog home.

The main breaker is on, I do not see any downed lines. The neighbors seem to have power.

I am going to call the electric company.

They will feel my wrath over the phone for this inconvenience.

I forgot to pay the electric bill.

So now I am on my cell phone to the electric company trying to arrange to pay them and get a technician out there before my wife got home.

I do not fear much on Earth, my wife is the top of that list.

So the bill is paid at 2 pm. They said that a technician will be out there before 5 pm to reconnect.

I promised I would do the laundry. Hmm, can I wash the delicates and her work clothes in the bathtub?

Do I risk it?

After all, we have that washboard on the wall in the kitchen. I am sure that I could wash them in the bathtub and hang them up somewhere to dry before she got home.

They are delicates for crying out loud. What is more delicate than gentle hands scrubbing the clothes in the bathtub?

What is the worse that can happen?

Nevermind, I can figure that part out.

So the electricity was on at 4:55 and my wife got home at 5:25. I had just enough time to cook dinner.

I calmly told her that I was held up with computer problems that made it hard to finish my assignment.

She sighed and said, “At least you remembered to pay the car insurance.”

Yeah, I have to start writing things down.

Michael Cole writes a nationally syndicated weekly column as well as writes fiction under a pseudonym. You can follow his antics at michaelcole.news