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BOB ANN BRELAND

BETWEEN FRIENDS

I went to a store specifically to buy something. While searching, I tended to look at other things and sort of forgot why I was there.

“May I help you find something, ma’am?” the store person asked me. We don’t get that question very often anymore.

“Oh, yes,” I answered and when I start to tell them, I remembered what I needed, but the brand name completely disappeared from my mind. I described the purpose and I am thinking I should have written it down. I must have said it out loud, because they gave me a controlled snicker.

“You do realize you will probably be old someday,” I smiled while replying  to  this younger person.

In those young years, some cannot imagine the changes that overtake many people as they age. Sad to say, the broad intelligence many of us had in younger years seems to edge away slightly as those years add up. Some of us change a little, some a lot.

“Are you preparing for your older years,” I asked another young person. The quizzical look in their eyes tells me they haven’t even thought about getting old and probably thought that was an ignorant question. Maybe it was.

“You’d better think about it,” I said. “Do you realize not only your mind gets slower, but your body does too? Things don’t work the same all the years you live. It gets more expensive to medically fix them!”

I wanted to go on, but I didn’t want to disillusion them about the joys of an older age. It is wonderful to be healthy and able to do lots of things while aging, but it is not the same for everybody. Sickness and diseases may take over.

Some aging souls play games and work puzzles, while others play golf, or do other things to keep the mind and the body hopefully going full blast. It is important to keep everything working well as long as we can.

Go into a room to get something, get there and forget what we went after. Sounds odd to a younger person, but this is repeated by many who are feeling those older years coming on. Losing a thought just happens along the aging line. Forgetting can be a problem.

After working so many years with words with the newspaper, I now find it hard sometimes to remember one. Crossword puzzles have always been my passion. I cannot remember a time in my adult life when I didn’t have one nearby, ready to solve. I never use a dictionary to find answers. I try to figure it out. When a problem arises, I put the puzzle down, do something else; later pick it up and the word may come instantly. Trying to concentrate harder does not work. All the information we ever gathered is likely still in the brain. Trying to recall a name can be particularly aggravating!

“If I introduce you to somebody and I don’t mention their name, please don’t ask me! I will probably remember it later,” I tell those with me. The person is in front of me and my mind is struggling. I remember everything about them but their name!

“Do you know who I am?” can be a killer question.

“Give me 10 minutes and I’m sure it will pop into my brain,” I bravely reply. The download can be difficult!! All those names are begging to respond. It may take a little while or it might appear at any time.

Surely patience is among the most wonderful developments of aging.