I did it again, second time this week...

[txcharvel]

For the second time this week, I left the house without my EDC. A couple of times a week my wife gets up early with me and we have mini "coffee date" before I leave for work. Almost every time we do this I leave something behind, rings, watch, phone, etc... I just get distracted in my morning routine. For the second time this week, I forgot my EDC. I put my holster on, put my shirt on, but forgot my EDC. I'm actually sitting at work at my desk with an empty holster under my shirt. I'll be heading home shortly once traffic dies down to retrieve it.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[Jusme]

No of course not!! No one else on this forum would ever forget anything right?
My wife will call out from the bedroom when I come back in, "What did you forget this time?"

What's really embarrassing, was when I was LEO I went to work more than once in full uniform with an empty holster.

[oljames3]

For the second time this week, I left the house without my EDC. A couple of times a week my wife gets up early with me and we have mini "coffee date" before I leave for work. Almost every time we do this I leave something behind, rings, watch, phone, etc... I just get distracted in my morning routine. For the second time this week, I forgot my EDC. I put my holster on, put my shirt on, but forgot my EDC. I'm actually sitting at work at my desk with an empty holster under my shirt. I'll be heading home shortly once traffic dies down to retrieve it.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Male humans are hardwired to work best in an established routine. We deviate from that routine at our own peril.

I have only once left home without the pistol I routinely carry, but still had my knife. I help prevent this disturbing situation by donning my pistol immediately after donning my pants: jeans, suspenders, belt, pistol in paddle holster, button & zip, cinch belt.

My pistols lives in its paddle holster, only coming out when I use it (including practice) or clean it. If I stray from this routine, however, things could get embarrassing.

[Liberty]

My pants will fall down if I attempt to leave home without it.

[twomillenium]

For the second time this week, I left the house without my EDC. A couple of times a week my wife gets up early with me and we have mini "coffee date" before I leave for work. Almost every time we do this I leave something behind, rings, watch, phone, etc... I just get distracted in my morning routine. For the second time this week, I forgot my EDC. I put my holster on, put my shirt on, but forgot my EDC. I'm actually sitting at work at my desk with an empty holster under my shirt. I'll be heading home shortly once traffic dies down to retrieve it.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I am so glad that other folks admit to doing something like this. I have to be careful if I get off a certain part of my morning routine and literally have to go back to where I left off to get back in sync. What I hate is when I forget that I have already told my wife something and I repeat it almost verbatim, until I catch myself or she gives me that funny look.
What I hate is when I forget that I have already told my wife something and I repeat it almost verbatim, until I catch myself or she gives me that funny look. <--- funny look

[Excaliber]

I've done this a few times in the last couple of years since moving back out to the country.

I figure the cause is spending too much time on business travel when I'm not allowed to carry, and the peaceful and relaxed environment where I live.

I never leave home when not traveling without my EDC intentionally, though. The last time I did that was in 1974 and I just missed walking into an armed robbery.

[SIGFan43]

I had to take an ambulance ride to the hospital recently, and left my pistol at home intentionally, but forgot to remove my kydex IWB holster until I woke up in the middle of the night wondering why my hip bothered me on the right side.

[The Annoyed Man]

I've done it maybe 5 or 6 times since I got my license in early 2008. But I haven't done it in a while. The main reasons that it almost never happened are that (A) I am now retired, and (B) before I retired, I worked from home, only leaving the house for the occasional client meeting. So I tend to always take my time getting ready to leave the house, and I virtually never rush out the door. Even on Sundays when I'm playing with the worship team, and I have to be there at 7:30 am, I get up at 6:00 and take my time getting showered, dressed, have my coffee, and then head over to the church which is only about 5 minutes away. I've gotten in the habit of always patting my breast pockets (ID holder, reading glasses, and cellphone), left front pants pocket (knife), right front pants pocket (keys, misc.), right hip pocket (wallet), left hip (holstered gun), and right hip (magazine carrier) as I'm walking toward the back door to get to my car. I repeat that silly Monty Python mantra to myself: "spectacles, manticles (begins with T, rhymes with spectacles), wallet, and keys!" as I pat my pockets.

The very few times I have left without my pistol, I was in a huge hurry. Hurrying only pays if you're being shot at, and hopefully I'll already have my gun in hand by then. Otherwise, I move like the old bull in the story about the old bull and the young bull, and the herd of heifers at the other end of the pasture. Hurrying almost always gets you less than taking your time and getting it right.

Not included in the above: whenever I have flown out to California instead of driving. I just don't need the commie headaches at the airport in California. I get there, and I borrow one of my younger brother's pistols if I need one. But I can't carry there anyway, so I rely on other means of self-protection. If I'm driving, it's a whole 'nuther game because I am passing through more than just two airports. When I drive out there this May, I'll bring a G26 and a shotgun or lever rifle.

Like most of us, on the rare occasion I've left my gun behind, I feel like the proverbial public speaker, who delivers a speech at a nudist colony one night. Out of respect for their tradition, he delivers his speech in the nude. Out of respect for him, they all put clothes on that night.

I hates it, I do.

[Abraham]

I keep a taped list of what not to forget posted on the glass of my front storm door.

It's in code...

[txcharvel]

...What I hate is when I forget that I have already told my wife something and I repeat it almost verbatim, until I catch myself or she gives me that funny look.
What I hate is when I forget that I have already told my wife something and I repeat it almost verbatim, until I catch myself or she gives me that funny look. <--- funny look

[RoyGBiv]

At my house we call it CRAFT.
Can't remember a flippin thing.

[Lynyrd]

I left home without my EDC a couple of weeks ago, but that was due to me getting called in early to fix something at work. I left the house without a shower, without coffee, without going through my morning routine, and without my sidearm.

But I have never left the house with an empty holster. I keep my EDC in the holster at all times. Holster comes off, gun stays in it, and both wait in a drawer for me until I need them again. I don't depend on my EDC at night when I am asleep. I have another gun on the night stand for that.

[Sidro]

Nope, haven't forgot my edc. However I left the house yesterday and got about one mile away and realized I had forgotten my teeth(uppers and lowers). My wife was really laughing when I returned home and told her why I was back. That is the second time I have done that since 1981.