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It's like i always say.....
Jul. 31st, 2009 09:59 amer... what *do* i always say?
Memory. It's a funny thing. I am entering the age where my memory starts to stall and fizz and pop and misfire sometimes. I used to make fun of my mother when it started happening to her and i apologize profusely. I went to a seminar on menopause a couple of years ago and one of the symptoms of menopause and pre-menopause is apparently short term memory loss. It was described this way: If you forget where you put your keys, that's normal. If you forget what keys are for, that's not. People get upset when they start having more memory misfires, afraid it could be the onset of Alzheimers but it rarely is, in most cases. I also used to tell my mother it was just information overload and according to this article in today's paper, that's also another reason. I feel vindicated :)
Forget the right word for something? Forget why you went into a room? Forget you said or did something yesterday/last week/last year? Don't worry about it. Or .."fuggedaboutit" :) It's frustrating, yes. I can still hear my dad gesturing across the table and asking for that... that... you know.. "that brown stuff... and i don't mean shit." You know you've been married to someone a long time when you know exactly what they mean. Peanut butter. Mom and Dad often did that, vague waving of the hands in the general direction of something, maybe a descriptive word but maybe not but the other usually knew what they wanted. That segues into another memory, or many actually, of Dad wanting to know where something was. Asked for it by name, let's say the scissors. He'd call out to Mom to ask where they were and she'd hesitate, think, then answer "In the second drawer in the kitchen???" Those question marks are significant. Because she didn't really know where it was, but chances are that they might be where she guessed. Nope, he'd say. Guess again! If you were in the room with him and heard her guess, you'd see him roll his eyes and shake his head when he realized she didn't really know but he'd look anyway. I'm chuckling as i write this, i can SO picture it.
There's lots of reasons why you forget stuff, though. Often it's just that you get distracted by something else. In the middle of a conversation even ;))) You know who you are. Graham is always telling me my memory is shocking. i.e. bad. Don't i remember something he says he told me or something we talked about? Um. well. maybe? Oh don't ask me hard questions! A few more clues and i do remember. Most of the time. Thing is i'm very good at remembering trivial things. Historical dates, or facts from the history of Corrie or some such. Things i've learned.
And it's not just age. That title to this post and the reply? I actually said that once, about 15 years ago, well before my pre-menopause days. That has become a family catch phrase. Good to know i've made my mark somewhere along the way :))
Memory. It's a funny thing. I am entering the age where my memory starts to stall and fizz and pop and misfire sometimes. I used to make fun of my mother when it started happening to her and i apologize profusely. I went to a seminar on menopause a couple of years ago and one of the symptoms of menopause and pre-menopause is apparently short term memory loss. It was described this way: If you forget where you put your keys, that's normal. If you forget what keys are for, that's not. People get upset when they start having more memory misfires, afraid it could be the onset of Alzheimers but it rarely is, in most cases. I also used to tell my mother it was just information overload and according to this article in today's paper, that's also another reason. I feel vindicated :)
Forget the right word for something? Forget why you went into a room? Forget you said or did something yesterday/last week/last year? Don't worry about it. Or .."fuggedaboutit" :) It's frustrating, yes. I can still hear my dad gesturing across the table and asking for that... that... you know.. "that brown stuff... and i don't mean shit." You know you've been married to someone a long time when you know exactly what they mean. Peanut butter. Mom and Dad often did that, vague waving of the hands in the general direction of something, maybe a descriptive word but maybe not but the other usually knew what they wanted. That segues into another memory, or many actually, of Dad wanting to know where something was. Asked for it by name, let's say the scissors. He'd call out to Mom to ask where they were and she'd hesitate, think, then answer "In the second drawer in the kitchen???" Those question marks are significant. Because she didn't really know where it was, but chances are that they might be where she guessed. Nope, he'd say. Guess again! If you were in the room with him and heard her guess, you'd see him roll his eyes and shake his head when he realized she didn't really know but he'd look anyway. I'm chuckling as i write this, i can SO picture it.
There's lots of reasons why you forget stuff, though. Often it's just that you get distracted by something else. In the middle of a conversation even ;))) You know who you are. Graham is always telling me my memory is shocking. i.e. bad. Don't i remember something he says he told me or something we talked about? Um. well. maybe? Oh don't ask me hard questions! A few more clues and i do remember. Most of the time. Thing is i'm very good at remembering trivial things. Historical dates, or facts from the history of Corrie or some such. Things i've learned.
And it's not just age. That title to this post and the reply? I actually said that once, about 15 years ago, well before my pre-menopause days. That has become a family catch phrase. Good to know i've made my mark somewhere along the way :))
