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  • Susan Gallagher

I Give Up


I lost my credit card today.

This in itself isn’t unusual. At any given moment, odds are I’m in search of my glasses, car keys, wallet, coffee mug, flip-flops, the earrings I wore yesterday, or some combination thereof. Last month I misplaced a rather large sum of money, a live groundhog, and a whole, cooked chicken.

What was unusual this time was my reaction to this, the latest in an infinite string of losses.

“Are you gonna give The Speech?” my husband asked, as I abandoned the search for the night.

“What speech?”

“You know, the one where you tell me how tired you are of losing things, how this is the last straw, and how you’re gonna get your life in order and get organized from this day forward, so help you God?”

He’s right. I do give that speech a lot. But you know what? No more.

I give up.

That’s right, Life, you win. I hereby resign myself to the fact that I’ll never be the kind of woman who’s got it all together. No matter how many times I promise myself I’m going to wake up a half hour early to make breakfast and put my makeup on, I’m always going to stumble into work 45 minutes late wearing Pop-Tart crumbs and socks that don’t match. That’s who I am and I accept it.

I do. So help me God.


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