It was just 10PM, the first day of daylight savings time in France. I’m re-reading a grant application on which I am a collaborator, after a beautiful Sunday during which I could not bring myself to do it during the day. A student awaits my feedback on his upcoming lab meeting presentation as well. The skin on my hands is cracking between the fingers and over the knuckles, because I did not wear gloves when out there mucking about in the mulch, weeding and planting seeds. I wear gloves still a fair bit during the week, between growing cells in a clean cell culture room and the occasional polymerase chain reaction. I balk at wearing them on weekends, too, even if I regret it later.

My husband comes upstairs and asks me: have I written the letter asking for our daughter to be enrolled in the nearer public school to the train station in the town where we might possibly live, come this autumn, rather than the one to which she is automatically assigned?

Did I photocopy the vaccines and the proof of apartment ownership and her birth certificate?

Did I know that Thursday, May 21st, is a bank holiday in Catholic France for the ascension of Jesus and therefore, a long weekend? Had I a chance to look for a place to stay in the Basque country, as our friend, a stay-at-home mom of three who was supposed to look for a place for all of us in one of the earlier long weekends of May — there are three such weekends — could not locate any?

Did I remember to take the remote control for his parking lot next to the airport for Tuesday morning when I fly to Paris, as he will already be there from Monday afternoon to Tuesday for a job interview, and could I leave it in the second car parked outside so he can get back out and pick up our kids from school Tuesday evening?

By the way, did I ever find that second key to the second car?

Did I make the reservation for his dad’s birthday dinner on Wednesday?

Would I mind packing the coffee machine birthday gift for his sister in our son’s suitcase for Thursday, when my husband will check him in to the airport and send him up to his grandparents and me in Paris for a school entry exam? Could I make sure he has what he needs for soccer practice on Wednesday afternoon, as he can be absent-minded? (I add mentally: make sure the clothes have been washed since the game last Saturday.) Did I remember to give him back our son’s ID card to board the plane?

Will our daughter indeed be sleeping over a school friend’s on Thursday in order to get to school on Friday, as my husband has a 5:30AM flight to Brussels for an unexpected meeting and I will not be back from Paris with my son until that afternoon? Have I thought to call a babysitter and find an additional person to attend the theatre with me that evening, since he won’t be back in time? Could I reschedule her riding practice on Friday to the Tuesday after spring vacation?

Could I look over a few practice questions for his interview tomorrow?

I think: what on earth did I intend to do, again, a half hour ago?