Diary of a Middle-aged Woman

02/13/07 - Where's My Memory?

Today is my husband's forty-eighth birthday and do you know I forgot the most important thing. A birthday cake. I was at the supermarket yesterday, with everyone else who was preparing for the impending winter storm, and I didn't get one for him. In the 'old days' I would have baked one for him but nowadays I take the easy way out.

It's not just the birthday cake that I forgot. It's as if my memory is totally gone. I don't know if I did too much partying in my twenties or if it is yet another symptom of my aging mind. What ever it is, it came on me fast.

There are times I walk into the kitchen for something, and then stand in the middle of the room and think to myself, "now what did I come out here for?" I'll try to trace my thoughts back to before I walked into the kitchen, trying desperately to remember. I admit there are times I just walk out of the room, never remembering what it was. At other times I'll go back to the livingroom only to remember what it was that I went into the kitchen for in the first place. How frustrating is that?

Other times I'll go into the kitchen to get something, then get caught up doing something else. I forget all about what it was I went in there for in the first place - that is until I leave the room. Once again, then I remember.

If I go shopping anywhere, whether it is to the mall or (definitely) grocery shopping, a list is a must have. If I didn't make a list, I would end up standing in the middle of the mall looking like a lost child. Or worse yet, roaming the aisles of the supermarket with a blank look on my face. (I've seen other people walking around the supermarket with that same look. I wonder if they have the same problem as me?)

My daughter tells me things all the time that I supposedly said, but I don't remember. "Yes mom, you said that," she says in total exasperation. These are the times that I get totally confused because I think she might be saying that as a ploy to get what she wants. Or did I really say it?

My husband and I will talk about things that happened years ago, and I always remember it differently than he does. Now this might be a case of his selective memory, so, I don't know if we can count this one either. However, can he be wrong all the time, every time? Wait a minute. This is my husband we're talking about. Of course he can be wrong all the time. Husbands never remember things the way they actually happened. See? I even forgot that law of nature.

These aren't isolated incidents. They happen frequently to the point where I begin to think that I have the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. In fact, I got so concerned over it that I checked WebMD.com. I don't know if you've ever checked-out anything on WebMD.com, but they always, always, give you the worst case scenario for any symptom that you have. It makes you think that you better get your butt to the doctor immediately or you will be dead in no time. I was concerned about what I read until I finally remembered that point.

So, today I will be in the supermarket again. I made my list and I only have one thing on it - birthday cake. Oh, I better pick-up some candles too. I almost forgot them. I hope I remember to put them on the list. Now where did I put that list?

Have a great day!