Skippy Peanut Butter
When I was in 5th or 6th grade, I had an assignment to write a book report about someone’s autobiography. To be honest, I don’t remember the book I chose, I remember getting my report back. The teacher had written a gigantic question mark over my first page. I couldn’t imagine why she would do that. Without reading what I had already written, I went up to her desk and asked her. She told me to read my first line out loud. I started to read and it said, “This is the autobiography of Skippy Peanut Butter!”
There was no explanation for it. I was as perplexed as she was. I went home to redo the first page and sat down at the old fashioned typewriter. My mom had the TV on, and eventhough it was not in my room, the volume was high enough for me to hear everything going on. I started to type and my mind wandered to the TV commercial that was on. I realized that is what happened before, I heard the commercial and just automatically typed what I heard, I never proofread the report.
I learned two lessons, one was how easily distracted I was and two was to always reread what I write. Unfortunately, re-reading isn’t enough! My eye knows what I meant, and I don’t catch the mistakes, whether spelling, meaning, or grammar.
Although I never made a mistake like that again, I have made many others by being easily distracted. There used to be a joke circulating on facebook about distraction, but the other day I lived it:
I have to plan my day because everything takes me twice as long since I recently had surgery on my foot. I knew the surgery would be painful, and I was prepared for it, but I wasn’t prepared to have to depend on my husband for everything. I am very impatient. As much as he helps, or tries to help, it isn’t the same as doing it myself. To top it off, he has physical problems of his own and isn’t capable of doing what he thinks he can do.
The problem is that after I make my TO DO list, something always gets in the way. This morning for example I wanted to shower, instead of wash up. It’s been really hard not getting the foot wet. I tried all kinds of things, but most of them are meant to go over a cast. With just a bandage, I haven’t been successful. I have had it rebandaged twice. A phone call, an article pops up on the tablet, the doorbell rings, another phone call. My husband comes back and the stuff he bought, from the market or just the laundry, has to be put away. You get distracted by the TV, by a neighbor just calling to see how you are, a delivery from Temu, and you just have to see what you got!
Before you know it, it’s lunch, and then with more distractions you realize at 6 oclock that you took nothing out for dinner. You planned to watch the baseball game, but it’s rained out. You meant to call your cousin, but time just ran away with itself. You add your undone things to tomorrow's list. You are sure you are forgetting something. It’s late, and the dog has to go out! Finally bedtime, you feel tired, even exhausted, but you accomplished nothing, you never even took a real shower!
This may not be the same kind of distraction as my Skippy Peanut Butter episode, but as you get older, you have more responsibilities, and the distractions grow as well. I have become enslaved to the calendar, I can’t make any plans, or recall what I’ve got to do on what day!
The only comfort I take is that this seems to be normal for everybody I know. I am part of a Mah Jongg game. We are 5 women, when we all manage to be together. Inevitably, each week, one or more of us forget where we are playing, and one or more of us can’t play due to situations that come up. When we all manage to arrive on time at the right house, we call it a successful day. It’s not because we are older, it is not because we don’t care, and it is not because we didn’t plan well. It’s just because of distractions that creep into our day and actively try to screw us up! I mean I spend half my day looking for my cell phone, and a jar of Skippy Peanut Butter!
