It is late Sunday afternoon and I am upstairs in my third floor office working.  I look at the time and realize I should finish up and get going as I am taking my friend out to dinner for her birthday and I have yet to “wrap” (a euphemism for put everything in a gift bag) her present.

I run down to the 1st floor and pull out the gift bag, the tissue paper and the components of her gift.  I start to wrap the pieces in tissue paper and remember that I also bought her a book and it’s upstairs on the 2nd floor.  Okay, no problem, I’ll just run up and get it.  Once upstairs, I think, “You know, I really should put on a nicer top.”  I pull out a sweater, put it on and run back downstairs.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and think, “Crap, I forgot to put my necklace on.  Better do it now or I’ll forget.”  (If you know me at all you know I’m lucky if I get out of the house fully dressed let alone properly accessorized)  I run upstairs throw the necklace on and run back downstairs.

I go back to the gift wrapping and realize I never got the darn book.  I run upstairs, grab the book and run back downstairs.

Once again, I go back to my appointed chore.  I finish placing everything in the gift bag and pick up the cards to sign.  My phone rings.  It’s an agent who is writing an offer on one of my short sales and she has some questions and needs some documents.    I run up the 2 flights to my office, answer her questions and send her what she needs.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and realize the birthday cards, which were in my hand when I answered the phone, are now on my desk, in my office, on the third floor.   I run up the two flights of stairs, grab the cards, run back down, sign them and, finally, finish with the gift.

I grab the gift and my pocketbook and, as I’m heading for the coat closet,  I look down at my feet and think, “Oh for cryin’ out loud, I meant to ditch the sneakers and put on my boots.”  I put the pocketbook and the gift down, run upstairs and switch shoes.

I run back downstairs, throw on my jacket, grab the gift and my bag and head out the door.  I get outside and realize I meant to put on my raincoat because I knew it was raining at a pretty good clip.  I sigh, turn around, run back in the house and switch the jacket for my raincoat.

I head back out and stop at the front door.  Could I possibly have forgotten anything else?

“Honestly,” I wonder, “how is it that I can easily manage all the intricate details of numerous, concurrent short sales and other real estate transactions and yet, tossing four items in a gift bag and getting myself fully dressed and out the door has just thrown me into a tizzy.”  It’s a little frightening, really.

I console myself with the thought that, after all that running around, I can definitely have dessert.