I wish I had one. That seemed to be the theme of yesterday. I can never seem to remember a gosh darn thing. Zach looks to be heading down the same path. And Jan…well, Jan couldn’t remember how to speak English last night. It was quite an adventure, the three of us in the car doing the beck and call runs. None of us had a memory.

Our first order of business last night was to go to a meeting for the Marathon Dance at the boys’ high school. Zach and I had everything timed, down to the minute. We didn’t want to be late. We arrived at the high school, parked the car and the three of us walked into school. There was the hustle and bustle of all sorts of activities. We headed to the auditorium and were asked to pay $5 to enter and handed a program. “Uh, we are here for the Marathon Dance Meeting,” I said. The man behind the table gave me a blank stare and told me we were in the wrong place. I thought, well maybe the meeting is in the library. I checked the email. The meeting is scheduled for February 3, it said. It was February 2…wrong date! DAMN!

In all of this confusion and walking around we are having little micro bursts of discussions. In our family conversation topics change faster than a squirrel can change direction. Zach likes single directional conversations but we are an omni-directional family. He kept trying to go back to a conversation we had minutes earlier to give another thought and he couldn’t remember what the conversation was let alone another thought he wanted to add to it. He kept slapping his head in frustration lamenting the fact that he can’t remember a gosh darn thing! Ah Zach, it only gets worse.

And then there was Jan. His English speaking skills have been very strong since the moment he stepped off of the plane from the Czech Republic. His wit is sharp and he gets little jokes. My first glimpse into his sense of humor came a few short weeks after his arrival. We were going into a store in the Outer Banks and there was a sign on the door that said “No Checks Allowed.” Stan says to Jan with a completely straight face “Jan looks like you can’t come in here…there are no Checks allowed.” Jan gave a big belly laugh and joined in with the ribbing back and forth. Last night, he seems to have forgotten all the little words. We were passing a bird feeding store and Jan says “Willed Bird Store.” Nope, that’s Wild Bird Store, with a long i sound. Minutes later we are passing Silver Diner and Jan says “Silver Dinner.” Nope that’s Diner, again with a long i sound. The one though that was priceless is when we were standing in line at Trader Joe’s. The big boys were pushing and shoving each other and I told them they were behaving like toddlers. Jan said “like Pot Roast?” Nope, again. Toddlers. You know, little kids? He accepted all of the grief we gave him with his wit in tact and lamented the fact that he truly had forgotten how to speak English.

Ah memories, I wish I had one. But at least I have these words all written down. For the love of my children…