The Missing Receipt

I forgot to flip the calendar page out of April and into May yesterday morning. As a result, I completely and totally forgot about an appointment I had made for yesterday afternoon until they called me when I didn't arrive. I recognized the number calling me and without realizing what I was doing, I answered the phone with a loud and apologetic "Oh NO!! I am SO sorry!!!!"

I cannot remember the last time I completely forgot I had an appointment. Maybe this was a first? I remember showing up a week early one time ... there are certainly many other examples of my humanness within the recesses of my mind. But I simply cannot remember completely and totally forgetting a commitment of someone else's time. How terribly rude.

This morning, I was taking care of another It's a New Month rituals and proceeded to empty the file folder of cash receipts from the year prior. 

I try to keep track of every cent I spend which results in an accumulation of receipts. Sometimes there is a reason to look back and find something on one of them. The majority of the time there is no need. But this routine of filing receipts and culling them a year later is not new to me. I've done it for years.

I have two months of receipts filed together so when I went to flip through last year's receipts this morning, it resulted in an unintentional walk down memory lane from May and June of last year. I promised myself not to pull out last year's calendar to walk through The Year of Mom again, once we started this new year. I will allow myself to recall and remember. But I will not dig for details. I'm trying to let it go.

So this stroll down memory lane, compliments of old receipts was unexpected and unintentional. 

It is not everyone who can pull up old memories via McDonald's, Dairy Queen and old grocery receipts. I can remember the taste, smell and moment I was in by finding those old receipts.

The McDonald's receipt with a "plain hamburger; no salt" took me back to the time I took Mom's friend out for supper and quite accidentally ended up meeting up with my brother while we were there.

Another McDonald's receipt for fries and coffee reminded me of Mom's insistence to get "REGULAR coffee" and to heck with the decaf.

The early morning breakfasts I picked up enroute to Mom's ...

The receipt for drumsticks, along with the memory of Mom gently telling me the next time I came out, "No more drumsticks. Please."  

Food triggers so many little memories. Food and visiting go hand in hand. Mom always tried to have our favorite foods on hand when we came to call. 

I will most likely never forget the receipt I should have in my possession. Mom asked me to pick up a thoughtfully chosen assortment of fruit to have on hand, when my nephew and his family had planned to drop by and visit. Mom ended up in the hospital the expected day of their arrival. There was rarely anyone in her home after that point. Yet she continued to ask me, right to the end, "Did you pick up that fruit yet??"

It just dawned on me this morning, that I should have picked up that fruit and brought a fruit platter to her while she was in the hospital. It is doubtful she would have eaten much, but she would have had it on hand to offer her visitors. She always had something to offer her guests, even when her appetite failed her. 

I took that last gift away from her. It is one receipt I will never have and wish I had. Sorry, Mom.