06.23.2016
Forgetting in your 40’s and 50’s is different than forgetting in your later years!
Forgetting in your 40’s means “Oh, I’m sorry I forgot to call you back last night.” Now when I forget, it means I went to lunch and found I had left my car running when I came back out. It means when I go to introduce my husband to a new friend I can’t remember either one of their names. It means when I walk into a room I stand there frozen and I wonder what I came in for. It means I get into my car to go somewhere and don’t remember where I’m going or WHY! THAT’S FORGETTING.
I spend half of my life looking for my car keys, sunglasses and purse. It means I may get a call while I’m sitting in my robe, asking “Why aren’t you here” or worse yet I go somewhere and am asked “Why are you here?” It takes a village to remember the name of a movie we saw two days ago and the stars who were in it or where we had dinner last night. It means you can’t come up with the word for what you do with your lips when you pucker up in affection or whether we are in the month of May or June. It’s the scary kind of forgetting.
The only thing that helps is that we are all in this together! Nobody I know can remember a thing!!! The words Prime Time are not used when describing me, I promise you that.
We’re In This Together
remind me about the lunch we have next week because I’ll never remember
to put in my iPhone
or look on my computer
where I so diligently put it with an alarm
late at night sitting at my desk
i wonder: is it this Thursday or next Thursday? 12:30 or 1?
was I supposed to call you first or you call me?
i’ll write it on this slip of paper
and put it on my dashboard
and hope I remember to transfer it to my phone
i’m late now
gotta run
have you seen my keys and sunglasses?
they were just here. I just had them. They’re the black glasses I always wear.
but that reminds me to tell you something before I go.
wait, I just lost it.
i’ll remember it in a minute.
it was about that movie we saw.
what was the name of it again?
call me when you remember the name of the movie, and then I’ll remember what I wanted to tell you;
this time I really have to go
oh here are my keys they were in my purse and my glasses on top of my head
gotta run
by the way, did you see where I parked my car?
-Beverlye Hyman Fead
Beverlye Hyman Fead is an author, artist, photographer and public speaker living with cancer. Aging in High Heels is her online zine filled with witty and inspirational content about aging with acceptance, humor and style.