I screwed up.

At work. I made a mistake last December (we just noticed today) and it cost someone else. In hind sight it could have been much, much worse - but there's no way around the fact that I'm the one to blame (I was in denial and spent a couple of hours on the phone and tracking old emails to find the mistake someone else might have made, but no) ..... there was paper work I needed to complete (and thought I had) but in fact, I forgot... or got interrupted or distracted or whatever the case may have been. It's not like any excuse would be valid - there's not really "excuses" in my business. I can't tell you how lucky I am that the people involved are so kind and understanding. I could be getting my ass sued (or more likely just paying out a shit-load to avoid that). I can't tell you how guilty I feel. I think some days I take lightly the considerable impact my actions (or inactions) can have on individual people's lives. Yikes.