The one where I check the locks

I think about Lot's wife often. I'm talking about Lot from the bible, Lot's story is told in Genesis. I don't think about Lot very often, just his unnamed wife. I'm sure she had a name, and I'm sure it was quite lovely however the bible never tells us what is was. The reason I think of her often is because as she and Lot and their family were fleeing Sodom she did what the Lord told them not to do, she looked back on the city they were told to leave and because of this she became a pillar of salt.

I am not a biblical scholar, nor do I pretend to be one, but I'm pretty sure the lesson from Lot's wife is that we need to obey God's commands, however I wonder if Mrs. Lot was not a little like me and dealing with OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I dislike this about myself and I'm really trying to work on it. I wouldn't describe myself as over the top when it comes to OCD, I'm certainly not like the character Monk played byTony Shalhou and I'm not even in the same ball park as Howie Mandel however daily as I drive away from my house I look over my shoulder multiple times to make sure the garage door did actually close. I've watched it close, told myself it was closed and then I find myself circling the neighborhood to make sure that yes it is in fact closed. I do this with locks on my doors, windows, the oven and stove.

The blinds in my bedroom have to be a certain way, and I cannot stand seeing the warning label at the bottom of the blinds reminding me of the strangling hazard that blinds can be to small children, it's hard for me to relax in bed seeing the bright yellow warning label. I've often driven back to my office hours after I've left to make sure that I did in fact turn off my space heater, of course I could contact campus security and have them check for me but that would mean 1. admitting I have a contraband heater in my office and 2. admitting that I can't remember if I turned it off or not. Thankfully, it turns out I have always turned it off and the building where I work has never been in danger of burning down, at least not at my hands.

Over the years, my chronic checking has been getting worse however I am reminding myself regularly out loud that almost 100% of the time the iron is off, and so is the stove, the doors are locked and the garage is closed. I think it's working but I may go check just one more time. Kidding.