One of those annual “occasions” was approaching and I needed to get a greeting card for it. So I went out to the store at lunch and found the card section. I went to the anniversary section and started looking for an anniversary card. After perusing the cards for a while I felt a little bit guilty when I realized “this is our tenth anniversary and I haven’t really done anything special for it.”
Anyway, I bought a card and returned to work. It was only about 4 hours later that I realized, “wait a minute. It’s not our anniversary. It’s my spouse’s birthday!”
So is this a normal part of aging, or am I losing my marbles?
Anyone have similar stories with which I can console myself that I’m not slipping into dementia?
Well, if it makes you feel better, I have done something similar. Many times, actually, I have gone to the store for a loaf of bread (for example), and purchased cheese, or lettuce, or other groceries, and not until I got home do I realize that I neglected to buy the loaf of bread I went out for in the first place. Most people would not consider me “old” or a “senior citizen”, since I’m not yet even 40.
No, it’s probably just not having the time to organize your thoughts correctly.
The easiest way to think of it is like this.
It’s normal to forget where you parked your car, it’s NOT normal to forget how to drive.
It’s normal to forget your house keys, it’s NOT normal to forget your address.
It’s normal to forget you grandkid’s name, it’s NOT normal for you to forget you have grandkids in the first place.
If your are forgeting details then you just need to organize better, if your forgetting the events leading to those details, then you better see a doctor.
I do things like mistaking the purpose of the card pretty often. Another favorite is driving along deep in thought and realizing I don’t know where I am, even though I’m in familiar territory and figure it out in several seconds. A fear of mine is that one of these lapses will be sufficiently visible that people around me will start comparing notes about whether I am losing what should be normal function. But I hear fears like this voiced often enough that I don’t think I’m unusual (even though I AM losing what was once normal function; the “should be” is where all the debate lies).
One time I got up to do something in the kitchen, but forgot what it was when I went in there, and had to go back to the living room and sit down. Then I remembered what it was and went back into the kitchen, and discovered that I actually had done it last time. Now I can’t remember what it was, to tell the story.
I learned from some source that if you can’t think of the right word for something but it comes to you later, that is not a result of Alzeimer’s.
Napier, I have the experience of driving and realizing that I don’t know where I am. Have I crossed Hillsboro? Am I still on Harding? I need an auto pilot for my car.
Twice this past week, I’ve gone to a store for a specific item and come home with several things, but completely forgotten to even look for the one thing I went for. I did remember later, but that doesn’t exactly make me feel that much better.
Don’t worry about it - I forget things all the time. I’m 41. It just started happening over the past few years, but most people I mention it to have experienced the same thing, to varying degrees.
I worked with a sweet young thing who could remember details that simply amazed me. We work with a lot of different files every day, and I usually write notes on the front of the financial aid packages so that I can remember what the heck I told someone the next time they call. In my defense, I deal with dozens and dozens of files every day. Even so, the gal I used to work with remembered people that had called weeks before, and what their issues were.
You poor thing. We aren’t in any constellations. Constellations are the patterns stars make in the sky when we look at them from here. You could actually never be in a constellation, any more than you can get to a rainbow.
As I get older I find that I’m often thinking about the hereafter. I’m always going into a room and saying to myself, “Now just what did I come in here after”.
