Forgetfulness

I had a great plan for completing this flash fiction assignment. I came across the beginning of a story written some time ago on lined pages of mini-pads. I would take that germ of an idea and dictate it onto my laptop.

Like a lot of things lately, I don’t know where that pad is. I thought I’d put it under my laptop. No such luck. Funny: St. Patrick’s Day is Monday. Might I have the luck of the Irish? I do have an Irish last name (my ex-husband’s).

How far should I go in retracing my steps to find it? This exercise runs almost like clockwork because I’m always misplacing things. I can’t even remember what the story was about. I can swear I had it in my hot little hands yesterday.

So…guess I’ll have to come up with another idea.

Perhaps - each time I perform one of my frantic searches - I should keep a log. Mark down the missing item, how long I searched and, if I located the item, where the hell it was.

Things I’ve lost lately: 

• My faux leopard winter coat. It could be at Wake Med in Raleigh, UNC Johnston (Smithfield) or one of the three ambulances I rode in after my car accident in Nov 2023. Gone for good ☹️.

• A pair of prescription glasses lost later that same month. Never found; they had to be reordered. ☹️

• Dropped my phone stylus down the side of my recliner. It’s a hungry piece of furniture.

• No matter what it is I look for, it “disappears.” ☹️

• That first pair of glasses went the way of my stylus. ☹️

• Dust bunnies were all I could find.🫣

• A check I needed to mail to the treasurer: search time was 1-½ hours. Finally found it in my purse (halleluja). 😁

• The last time my son visited, I lost my latest pair of Rx glasses. We both searched the house to no avail. When I rechecked my bedside table that evening, I spotted the blue wired frames had fallen to one side, caught in a maze of electric cords.😄

• My large tube of sensitive toothpaste seemed to vanish. This was a real head-scratcher. Turns out, the tube had somehow found its way into a plastic tub with other, smaller tubes of creams and ointments. That mystery wasn’t solved until Day 2.😁

Is losing things (my mind being one of them) my Special Power? It sure isn’t Finding Lost Things. At my age, I worry that 

I. Am. Losing. It.

But then, surely I have lots of company (or at least I hope I do). My shrink did an impromptu cognition test (elephant, camera, TV; draw an analog clock). This exercise was in answer to a conversation we had about… you know…

I often blame the cat for rearranging items around the house. This time I can’t do that. Sure; everyone misplaces stuff. It’s just happens so often, to what can I attribute this frequent inconvenience? There’s just Tulip and me. I can blame bad odors on to her litter box. (Okay; sometimes I am the stinker). Who can tell? The litter box is outside the main bathroom, which increases the chances that I shall remain blameless.

Yeah. Old age stinks.

#forgetfulness

#old_age

#cats