Sunday, September 30, 2007

No Medication Please

I have a teeny weeny bit of OCD. I have been known to get into my car, close the door, fasten my seat belt and start the engine, only to shut off the engine, unfasten my belt, and go back into the house to make sure I've turned off the stove, unplugged the iron, shut off the faucet, locked the door, etc. I have even driven  several blocks and returned home on more than a few occasions. However, unlike regular OCD folks, I don't tend to rinse and repeat the process.

Today I left at 10 AM to go to a tailgate party before a football game. While I was getting ready, I had turned on my curling iron to straighten my hair, but I finally decided not to bother, since my hair was going to be out in the sun and the wind all day anyway. So I turned off my curling iron. I remember watching the red light go out. I even set the iron on something non flammable and checked it to be sure that it was cooling off.

That didn't matter of course. When I got to the party I began to obsess a little bit about whether I had really turned the thing off.  I reassured myself that I had. Are you sure? Yes. Really. Shut up. Not wanting to go home, I called my insurance company's 800 number to make sure my insurance was up to date, just in case. If I had been only five blocks away I would have left the party and gone back home to be sure the curling iron was off. Even though I was already sure.

But there I was, a good five miles away, and I didn't want to miss having brats and sauerkraut. Or being late to the game. In my case, food and fun tend to get in the way of going back to double check and re double check for danger.

After the ball game I even went out to dinner. By the time I was finally heading home, it was after seven in the evening. I was no longer worried about the curling iron. My house was either standing or not.

That is why I had a moment of panic as I was coming down the road that leads to my street. From several blocks away, I saw flashing lights up ahead. Then I began to see emergency vehicles in the road. In fact, they were blocking part of the entrance to my street. And there were three big pumpers idling very close to my house.

Even better, I smelled smoke as I turned the corner to negotiate my way past the multiple firetrucks, emergency personnel, and yellow tape. Since it was getting dark, I wasn't sure my house was there until I actually got to my driveway. Wasthis just a wellness check disguised as a fire?

Nope, it was a real fire, only not at my house, thankfully. It was at the house where there are always lots of little boys playing outside. I can't wait to hear that one of them was playing with matches. Or building rockets in the basement.

No curling irons I'm sure. I checked. Mine was off.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Girl you have to get a curling iron like mine that automatically turns off! :-) I knew someone who also had to unset the alarm & make sure all doors were shut on every room & every toilet seat was down so see you are not that bad! :-) I thought maybe all the cleaner's chemicals in your dry cleaning ignited tanning in the sun! I hope no one was hurt!

Anonymous said...

NOTE TO REMO: There were brats to eat and brats who may have started the house fire.

NOTE TO PSYCHFUN: I, uh, discovered this morning that my curling iron also shuts itself off.  I've never left it on long enough to find out.

Mrs. L

Anonymous said...

Gawsh I've missed this...

I've left mine on all day too many times to mention, and damned if my house isn't still standing.  Maybe I need to leave it on laying on the carpet.

I think we're all a little OCD.  I have to have things in even numbers always, because somewhere in my brain I've convinced myself that odd numbers bring bad chi or something.  I also have the "phone, purse, keys" mantra that I chant every time I leave a building.

I'm not interested in medication either.

=) kris
http://journals.aol.com/kristeenaelise/thedailypurge

Anonymous said...

I have a very slight case of OCD
no meds. though
think it started around 5th grade
when we moved
nobody knew
until I told them
years later
counting things
read 4 was number of death
writing a certain way
which made it worse
never good enough
now it's easier just
to let things go a bit
that would've freaked me out
after all that worrying
then seeing a fire on my street!

Anonymous said...

I'm with you.  I still have a tendency to separate things into groups of threes, which is supposedly a sign of OCD.  And I am always double-checking my alarm clock to make sure I set it right, my cell phone to make sure I set it on vibrate when I am in a place where I don't want to disrupt anything.  It goes on and on.

That must have been quite a feeling, turning on to your street and seeing the flashing lights.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to edit my comment
I've never really liked
labels and titles for myself
I've never been diagnosed
with OCD
I guess I just wanted to say that
I have my own lil thingys
p.s.
I like number 3 :)