I think I'm the president of that club. I always have been. It's just gotten worse (or more noticeable) as I age. Even as a kid, I distinctly remember (and that's saying something since I have already confessed to having such a horrible memory) forgetting the order of washing my hair. Seriously. I remember sitting there in the tub reading the 'directions of use' on the back of the shampoo and conditioner bottles because I could never remember which one you were supposed to use first and if you were supposed to have your hair wet or dry before you apply.
Thankfully, I've moved past needing to read the back of the bottle. Now I simply can't remember if I already added the conditioner or not. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of the tub, brushed my hair and noticed the tangle of knots still in it - a tell-tale sign of having forgotten the creme rinse part of my routine. So back in I go to redo my hair. Like...this happened just last week. Just one of the many weeks of my life to which I could repeat this same, pathetic tale.
Now I've upgraded to a new forgetfulness. We don't even want to count the number of times I've gotten out of the tub with only one leg shaved. The worst part is, I don't even notice until the next day.
Why am I confessing this? Good question. I dont' want my sweet kids thinking that their aging mother has dementia because of her forgetfulness. I want proof, recorded for posterity, that this little thing called, "short term memory loss" has plagued me my entire life. I don't want them to start putting labels on everything for me - "door", "keys", "cupboard".
Don't even get me started on the garage door and my curling or straight iron. Every day for years, I would close the garage door, back out and start driving to work or where ever and then get to the end of the street and not remember shutting the door. I just couldn't live with myself if I knowingly left the garage door open all day - an open invitation for anyone to come take whatever they need. So, I would turn around EVERY DAY and go back to double check. Maybe 2 times out of 100 did I actually forget to shut it. I got to the point where I built in time to do this circle around routine so I wouldn't be late.
Then there's the whole curling/straight iron thing to worry about. How could I live with myself if we came back from running errands only to find the house burnt down because of my dumb iron. Seriously, I would be looking on the horizon for smoke coming from the general vicinity of our house as we would be driving home because I would be so nervous as to whether or not I actually turned it off. Unfortunately, I don't remember about the status of my hair styling aids until we're long past the turn around point (at least for Chuck anyway).
How about one more for good measure. I have played a card game called Nertz since I was like 13. I know it like the back of my hand. You have one pile that holds 13 cards called your Nertz pile. Every time we sit down to play that game together, I secretly question how many cards are supposed to be in that pile, 13 or 14. Most of the time I put an extra card in for good measure.
If there is something really important, now-a-days that I wish to remember, I just tell it to Chloe and ask her to remind me later. Since she has a tape recorder for a memory, it's a set-up that works just great for me. Plus, she loves to remind of things. Win/win.
