Senior Moments

Last night, as I made my first few steps out the door of the nearby grocery store, it occurred to me that I might have left the water running in my bathtub — flowing at a fast enough rate that surely, the tub was overflowing.

It was one of those moments of panic. I had begun filling the tub with pretty hot water with the notion that I'd go to the store and come back to a body-friendly temperature and a warm, steamy bathroom. I wanted to rest against a warmed wall. I wanted to relax immediately, without the annoyance of such chilly surfaces.

Suddenly, that notion evaporated with the vision of water spilling over the tub's edges, onto the floor and down to the downstairs neighbour's apartment. I imagined the apartment manager and maintenance crew standing with hands on hips in my bathroom, wondering where the hell I was and why there was water running in my absence.

I ran. Sort of. Being almost 51 and a good [sic] twenty pounds overweight, however, my mad dash to minimize damage lasted all of about three-quarters of a block. Time. Every second was another half-gallon of water, I imagined... water was everywhere, I thought. Four-letter words spewed forth as quickly and voluminously as the water I saw in my head.

After a brief slowing of pace for some gobbling of air, I resumed my trot home, getting only twenty or thirty steps closer before having to again catch my breath. I reached into my pocket and readied my outside door key. Another tenant slowed my progress momentarily by backing out then into her parking spot in the carport. I could see my bathroom lights were out, so perhaps my fright was to be all for naught.

In the door! Up the stairs! Key to keyhole! Into the bathroom!

These moments are coming way too often for my likes these days.

In this case, I had purposely waited and watched the water level of the tub reach a point high enough to warm it and the environs. I was absolutely certain I had turned the water off before I left the apartment, but I had no memory of reaching for the valves. None.

This scares me as I don't know to what I should attribute it. Was it because I was watching baseball at the same time I was getting dressed to go to the store? Was it because my mind was simply elsewhere while I prepared the bath? Or is it the early stages of some sort of dementia?