Common Sense

This weekend, I had cause to be very angry with myself. On Saturday, when I was at Space Monkey’s house, he asked me a simple question, “How long do I need to put this can in the freezer to get it cold for my drink?” It wasn’t until Sunday morning that I realized how much of an idiot I am. A freezer is not a fast way to get a can cold. A cooler with ice, water and salt will bring the cans to near-freezing in about 6 minutes. I knew this, but I did not apply this knowledge, making it utterly useless. Or more correctly, making me useless.

On Sunday, Common Sense Mom lost our new car insurance cards. She was utterly convinced that she had given me mine already, about two weeks ago. Since I had no memory of this, it was apparent to me that it had never happened and she still had it somewhere. My memory almost never fails me.

Common Sense Mom loses things on a regular basis. She’s asked me to find her glasses when they were sitting on her face before. And I always find the things she loses by asking the right questions. What she tells me about something rarely has anything to do with the problem at hand, so I have to figure out what questions to ask to give me the answers I need to solve the problem. Long story short, I didn’t come up with the right questions. The fact was I didn’t really need her, I should have deduced that the missing cards were in her wallet, in one of the dozens of compartments therein. When I get a new card, I put in my wallet and I know she does the same. I should have known and there’s no excuse for not putting them together.

I don’t like it when something calls into question my justifications for my arrogance.