The last eight weeks or so have been full of emotional stress for me. New job, new challenges, and new living arrangements once again. I have found that during these times of  higher stress, as my brain tries to focus on the immediate task at hand, some part of the brain stops working correctly. Using the computer as a metaphor, it’s as if my brain is a hard drive running on limited ram and disc space. Once too much data is downloaded, the ram slows down and the hard drive space overloads. I have to use my “clean disc” feature and delete some things in order to keep on processing.

Of course, this could all be just age related. But let’s not go there….

What happens to me in these cases is that I tend to make embarrassing mistakes and things inevitably go wrong. My pen runs out of ink during a meeting, I forget to punch in and out for lunch, or in a rush to get to work I spill a mug of coffee all over my jacket.

In these last 8 weeks inumerable things such as the above have happened to me. I took some time the other day to reflect on this. I had never thought of myself as a “clutz”. But now I have to ponder this idea. Perhaps I am, indeed, one of those people who, in times of high stress, make laughable mistakes. And sometimes those are cases of what I call “mistaken identities.”

My earliest memory of such an event was when I was about ten or eleven years old. I had gone to the drive-in movie theatre with my sister and her boyfriend (who has since become my brother-in-law). As with any young kid, I had to use the restroom several times throughout the double feature.

Back in those days life was safe and we didn’t worry about predators or child molesters. Or at least I didn’t. So I walked to the restroom by myself. As an adult I now realize that my sister was probably enjoying some “alone time” with the boyfriend. Anyway, I made it to the restroom and back safely. I walked to the car, opened up the back door and got in. After about five seconds or so the couple in the front seat stopped kissing, turned around and stared at me. They were NOT my sister and boyfriend! I had gotten into the wrong car!

Then I was faced with the dilemma of trying to figure out just where my sister was parked. The couple tried to help me and I could tell they were concerned about a little girl who just entered their car. I finally located my sister and we laughed about the incident. But it was a nerve-wracking event that I still remember clearly to this day.

Many years later I was going to visit my Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Charlie. I had been invited for dinner and I was running late. My Aunt and Uncle lived on a block of houses on Long Island. For those not familiar with L.I., a lot of the houses there are the exact same design. People try to get away from the “cookie cutter” look by adding on, changing windows, etc. But basically the suburbs are full of the same houses.

Knowing that I was running late was killing me. I hate to be late for anything. I quickly pulled up to the curb and walked up to the back door of the house. I noticed that the window decorations had changed. Since my cousin always decorated for every holiday, I assumed she had just finished another creative design. I knocked on the door and walked right in since that was my habit, and immediately thought “Oh, Aunt Charlotte painted her kitchen!”

Just as I was noticing this, an elderly couple who was sitting at the kitchen table turned to stare at me. Thinking they were friends of my Aunt and Uncle, I smiled and gave them a big “Hi, I’m Cindy!” greeting. I expected them to introduce themselves and tell me that my Aunt was in the dining room or something. But no, they continued to stare at me as if deciding whether to jump up and strike me with a kitchen knife.

I had entered the WRONG house! I finally realized this and laughed as I explained that I meant to enter the house next door to them. I told them who my relatives were and that I was late for dinner. Looking down at their plates I tried to lighten the situation and said to them “So, what’s for dinner? Maybe I’ll just stay here!”

Unfortunately the elderly couple didn’t think my humor was so funny. I apologized for the interruption, and meekly backed out of their kitchen. Then I practically ran next door to my Aunt’s house!

A few weeks ago I was at the bowling alley watching my sister’s team complete their Friday night bowling feats. I had been there, sitting at the table with my sister and her team, for over an hour. I stepped outside to talk to my niece on the cell phone and then returned to sit at the table. I didn’t see my sister and assumed that she was on the alley completing her turn. But when I looked at the alley, not only was my sister not there, but her entire team had been replaced and other people were bowling instead. I quickly glanced at the table and realized that I had sat down at the WRONG table! Jumping up I moved two tables down and found my sister’s team carrying on as if nothing had happened. They hadn’t noticed my error at all.

So the other day as I was pondering those events I wondered if I am indeed a clutz, or if I made the errors due to high stress and my mind being preoccupied, or if I’m just getting older and losing it. I don’t like any of those choices. But I think I’ve decided to blame it on the stress factor. I think I’m getting to the point where I need a complete disc defragmentation and clean up. My hard drive is overloaded and I need some new ram!