For the second year in a row, I have now put my little black book through the washer. Last year I washed it in August. At least I made it to October this time. I was able to salvage the appointment section for the next few months. All the pages with upcoming appointments and activities are more or less intact; though soggy, fragile and very pale. The phone numbers and addresses from the back of the book are gone, but many of those have been entered into the address book in my e-mail program, and/or my cell phone.

What makes me really sad is the loss of the birthday pages. They have been pretty much obliterated. Some birthdays I know by now and also appear in the address books of 2000 and earlier, but any that I learned in the last two years are now just so much lint for the trap. If this means I will be forgetting your birthday...Happy Birthday!

No matter how many times you remember to check your pockets before doing the wash, it only takes one slip to gain a pile of shredded paper.