What did I do yesterday?  Let me look at my calendar and find out.  What did I do this morning?  Until I look at my calendar I have no idea.  Did I eat breakfast, or feed the dog this morning?  I don’t know until I look at my calendar.  I see that I talked to my sister on the phone.  Oh yes; now I remember doing that.  What did she say?  I don’t know until I look at my calendar.  …

So please don’t ask me what I have been doing lately.
I don’t want to be snoopy,
but instead can we talk about what YOU have been doing?

Along with teaching children, research and public speaking were some of my top abilities before my memory was impaired.  Now it is strenuous to gather a single concept into a sentence of words.  But today I remember that yesterday someone else did it for me.  A few weeks ago I mentioned my perception of a certain section of Scripture to our worship Leader.  Yesterday, during the worship service, that concept was wonderfully developed and communicated to our group.  I don’t remember anything that was said by the leader, but I remember the emotions I had while listening and I appreciate the fact that she did it.  It is noted in my calendar.

This may change, but right now I am more likely to remember past circumstances or concepts that have a large emotional element, UNLESS I consciously tell myself “I need to remember this”, or “I will certainly remember that.” If I bring it from a subconscious action into a conscious action then it seems I am actually LESS likely to remember it, even if it has high emotions associated with it.

I am more likely to remember emotions or the “aura” of an event, than to remember circumstances or concepts.

I am more likely to remember the “aura” of a person and my concerns for them, than to remember events with them, or what they look like.

Words are difficult, and names are even worse.  Even names like the name of the month or the holiday are difficult, but names of people are absolutely worse.  It is often even difficult to “pull up” the names of my children – that is not saying I can’t do it, because I usually can; it just takes a minute.  I need to be aware of the need, and be in the process of remembering the name as I appear to be doing something else like listening or re-arranging something.  And that is extra exhausting because I have a really difficult time doing two things at once, and I consider listening to be a high priority in my life.  But I don’t want them to feel like they are so unimportant that I don’t even remember their name!

For the past several months I have avoided making coffee because I keep forgetting how to do it.  So I have a plan to LEARN again how to make coffee.  I will make a “wish” photo of my husband and me sitting at the table, with my new “Desert Rose” coffeepot (actually teapot) between us.  Then I will photo a clear measuring cup with correct amount of grounds, and clear coffeepot with correct amount of water.  I will put these photos on the wall near the coffeemaker.

I have now spent 3hrs composing this “note” so I think I will take a nap.

***       …       ***       …       ***