when you live six floors up ...

I live on the sixth floor of a building. 

Today, I went to visit a friend who lives on the 6th floor, too. But that's the sixth floor of another building.  The building next door, but still.

I stopped a moment to catch my breath before I rang her doorbell. Why? Because I personally enjoy looking out through my peephole and watch my guests leaning on (or over) the bannister, gasping for air (they're just not used to the thinness of it).  And I didn't want to give my host that pleasure. It's mine, I tell you, all mine. No one else's.

Anyhow, at some point during the visit I pulled out my cell phone and placed it on the coffee table, all the while telling myself that I must remember to grab it before I leave.  

Of course, I didn't.  And I didn't clue into this fact until I had already reached the front door of her building.  6 floors down.  

So I turned around and went right back up again.  And then back down.  Then to my building.  Then up another six flights of stairs. 

Aiya. This is annoying, I tell you!  

Whenever I discover that something is missing, I always have a discussion with myself.  And I wonder if it's worth going back up again.  

It really is challenging.  But tonight I sat down and devised a question-answer method to simplify the decision-making process.  The things you do when you don't want to do anything useful ...

So, in case you ever run into a similar problem, here is a handy-dandy flowchart I designed using a very basic program called "Paint."

(might as well be called "Pain."  There's gotta be an easier way to do this!!) 

Anyway, here's hoping this flowchart helps someone out there.  Or makes a grumpy person smile, even a little bit ...