My heart drops to the floor, something is missing from my purse.

My cell phone.

Shit.

I try to remember throwing it in my purse but it’s such an automatic motion that I can’t recall specifically tossing it in my bag that morning. God, I hope I didn’t leave it in the hotel.

I glanced at my co-worker who recognized the panic of losing an appendage a cell phone. We’ll check your other bag when we get to the airport.

Okay, it’s just a phone. Calm down, it’s probably in your laptop bag - I tell myself. I try to convince myself that I could go a couple days without a phone but then I remember I work from home and not having my work phone is kind of a BFD.

The cab stops and I jump out, grab my laptop bag and start digging. My co-worker calls my phone to help me out. It goes straight to voicemail.

Double shit.

I had a conference call earlier and my phone overheated so I turned it off after the call and left it on….the bed. GAH!

I have time to go back to the hotel but it will be cutting it close. The Albuquerque airport isn’t very busy so we only gave ourselves an hour to get through security and to our gate. I rush downstairs to the baggage area to try to grab a cab again, realize I don’t have cash (no cab in Albuquerque will accept credit) and end up running back upstairs to an ATM. After running up and down the stairs with three bags I decide to grab my boarding pass and check my baggage before heading back to the hotel, it will be close.

After my boarding pass finishes printing I sprint back down to baggage and hail a cab.

I need to make a round trip, I forgot my cell in the hotel but my flight leaves at 11:55.

The taxi driver looks at the clock, 11:07. He punches it and when we get close to the hotel I leap out of the cab, tell him to keep it running, and rush to hotel registration.

The only girl at the registration desk is on her phone but I interrupt and explain to her that I’m in a hurry, I left my phone in my room, and need to get back to the airport ASAP. She tells her friend on the phone she’ll call her back. She looks up at me and asks me my room number and quickly makes me a key (slight disturbed that she didn’t ask for ID or ANYTHING, just handed a key over).

I sprint to the elevator (I can’t find the stairs) - hit the 6th floor, dash to my room and see my stupid cell phone sitting in the middle of the bed. A big black square laying perfectly in the middle of crisp white bed linens. Come on, Kate! Get it together girl.

I make it down to the taxi and we get to the airport with 20 minutes until my flight leaves. Thank God the airport is tiny, I breeze through security and make it to my gate just as the first boarding group is lined up. 

I’m sweaty, out of breath, and my perfect hair bun now looks like a deflated balloon but luckily I forgot to check in until late last night so I’m in the second boarding group. So with about 5 minutes to spare I trudge over to a coffee shop and pick out a victory sandwich - turkey on wheat with spinach.