I sat down to write last night and thought, Now what was I going to write about? Hmmm…oh, yeah. I was going to write about being forgetful. (I wish I were saying this for the benefit of this post. It really happened.)
I have been so forgetful lately that I actually told my cousin I was afraid I was getting early-onset Alzheimer’s. She replied, “Oh my goodness! I JUST went to the doctor for that!” It seems I’m not alone. Or, it runs in the family.
My sister has also been concerned about her memory lately and last week, she forgot my daughter’s name. I thought it somewhat odd that she couldn’t remember her niece. Until yesterday.
Yesterday, I went to the gym, put my coat in a locker and shut the door. I took my little lock – the one with the same three-digit combination that I’ve used for almost two decades – and as I went to place it on the locker, I couldn’t remember the combination.
If my brain could’ve made a screeching sound at that moment, it would have. Everything came to a halt. Well, everything except my fingers which were desperately twirling the dials into every conceivable sequence and pulling on the tiny lock. How do you use the same three numbers for 18 years and suddenly not remember them?
There I stood – a frantic fool in yoga pants, briefly looking up to see if any of the other women noticed. Because forgetting your lock numbers is far more embarrassing than standing half-naked in the presence of strangers, at least to me. I was working up a sweat before I even started exercising.
I eventually remembered my combination, but not before sitting on a bench with my head in my hands wondering how much time I had before I’d forget my own name. As much as I’ve been told this is normal and as many times as I’ve read memory lapses are common at my age, it’s still freaky to feel like your mind is betraying you.
The good news, though? My sister has been forgiven.
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Arnebya
When I started having memory difficulties (more than the average “what’d I come in this room for”, “where are my keys”, “dammit I’m on the subway but I drove to work today”, I bought Ginkgo Biloba to help. Yeah. I kept forgetting to take it.
I’m glad you remembered the lock combo and yes, we’re going to go with “this is all normal.”
Shannon
Brain fart!
It happens to all of us. Just let it pass.
Zak
DUDE. Both of my paternal grandparents had Alzheimer’s. I am petrified when I can’t remember things. I was on the phone yesterday with our insurance and I was trying to tell them we had radiant heat in our house and I couldn’t remember that it was called radiant. I had to GOOGLE it.
Christ.
Sarah
I actually had this happen in my early 20s and went to the doctor and she ran a bunch of tests including an MRI only to tell me it was stress. I’ve had bouts since where I forget people’s names that I see daily. I also forget the names of inanimate objects. I once told my friends, “I used to be so…what’s the word for when you have a lot of words?” Yeah, articulate I wasn’t. So it may just be stress.
Vicki (Go Mama Go)
This is hilarious! The exact same thing has been happening to me lately. I even lay in bed at night and think about how terrible it would be to forget my husband and kid and work myself up into a panic attack.
tara
The same has been happening to me! I feel like I need to do some brain teasers or something. Isn’t that supposed to help memory?
I bought a combination lock, tore off the sticker on the back after “memorizing” the combination, threw it away, and now I can’t remember it the combo.
And Zak’s comment is hilarious. The radiant heat part, not the grandparent part.
Brigid
I’ve always heard that if you *know* you are forgetting something, then you’re OK. It’s the people who aren’t aware they are forgetting that have more to worry about–thought they don’t worry because they don’t remember that they are forgetting something. *shrug*
tracy@sellabitmum
Yes, so many times now I drive around wondering where I was going…or I stand in my kitchen wondering I am there. lol
AlisonH
I was trying to have a conversation with someone yesterday and my brain kept forgetting the word for this, that, or the other. I knew that if I were trying to write the darn things, I’d have no problem, but out loud? Lost in space-out land. I feel your pain.
erin margolin
i blame my kids for my memory issues. Also? I regularly call my baby girl by the dog’s name and vice versa. It’s not cool. Thank goodness she’s too little to understand my gaffe.
Will you be at Blissdom?
xoxo
Alex@LateEnough
My issue when is always sleep when it comes to memory. Or if I’m worried about something. I’ll forget where I live if I’m anxious.
meleahrebeccah
Oh my word. Stuff like this happens to me ALL THE TIME. I walk into another room of the house = no idea why I went in there. I’m driving down the road = suddenly, NO IDEA where I’m going. My memory is AWFUL.
Delania
I forgot the 4 digit pin number for my debt card…in the middle of a transaction. Gone, had to pull out another card. Ended up calling the bank and having them send me my pin. I was 37 at the time. Senior years are going to be fun!!