On Forgetfulness and Donuts

I am pondering forgetfulness which is an increasing issue as we age.  Notice, I said “issue” and not “problem.”  I think too much is made of seniors being forgetful.

Recently I had an eye doctor appointment.  I thought it was going to be for a refraction, but it turned out to be a dry eye check.  They claim that I just had a refraction in April.  I do not remember that.  I thought the dry eye check was in April.  I wondered how I could have forgotten, but then I started to think, “why would I remember?”  I have had dozens of refractions in my life…why would I remember that one?

I have eaten thousands of breakfasts, lunches and dinners in my life….why would I remember what I ate yesterday?

I have made the bed thousands of times in my life.  Have I made it yet this morning?  Guess I’ll have to run down to the bedroom and look.  Yesterday when I found the bed made, I couldn’t remember doing it.  Turns out there was a good reason for that….my husband had slept so late that he felt obliged to make it.

Have I paid the utility bill this month?  Well, if I remembered to write it down in the checkbook, I have a reference.  I have paid that bill hundreds of times, so why would I bother to remember this one?

Why did I come in this room?  I must have come for something….but I have been here so many times before.

Of course, it is annoying to forget, but by the time one is in her 70s, there are so many things floating around in her brain, and some of them are so much more important than others.

I don’t remember the names of some people I have met, but I still remember my family and close friends, and if you give me long enough, I can pull out most of the names I need to know.  It might be 24 hours after I have greeted the person in some generic way, but eventually it comes.

Last night, the final Jeopardy question was about Caesar’s Commentary on the Gallic Wars.  I memorized the first few sentences in high school Latin class about 56 years ago.  I can still quote it…Gallia est ommes divisa in partes tres…  So obviously there is some meaningless trivia lodged up there pushing out some more recent memories.

Speaking of breakfasts….which I remember doing a few paragraphs back….I would remember if I had been to the donut shop and had a “headlight.”  That is my favorite kind of donut.  I have discovered in traveling around that not all Dunkin Donuts carry headlights, and sometimes they go by a different name or aren’t made quite the same way.  My local donut shop covers the top surface of the donut with chocolate frosting and then puts a medium size blob of white cream on top.  I have had them with skimpy little blobs.  Recently I had one with an absolutely enormous covering with a thick layer of the white cream all over the top of the donut.  I actually cannot remember where that was. 

AHA!  I just took time to reread this and apparently my brain was working on it in the background….I had that donut at a rest stop on the NYS Thruway, and there was so much white cream that I shared it with my husband.  I do remember life’s significant moments.