Coming home doesn’t mean my routines come home with me.

Tru here.

After eleven days away from home, I am back in my own kitchen, trying to make my usual protein drink.

Something I have done hundreds of times.

Guy had even measured out the ingredients for me before leaving to take CurlyHero to his grooming appointment, about an hour away.

So the ingredients were ready.

The kitchen was familiar.

The task was familiar.

But I couldn’t remember how to do it.

Not simply which ingredient came first.

I couldn’t remember what I needed, where things were, or how the different pieces fit together.

The connections were missing.

And without those connections, something as ordinary as making my protein drink became a puzzle I couldn’t figure out.

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When Familiar Tasks Become Unfamiliar

This isn’t the first time.

I’ve noticed that when I haven’t performed a familiar task for a while, I can lose access to the procedure for doing it.

It isn’t necessarily that I’ve forgotten what a protein drink is, or why I want one.

But knowing what I want to accomplish is not the same as knowing how to accomplish it.

There are so many little connections involved in even the simplest activities.

What do I need?

Where is it?

What do I do with it?

What happens next?

How do I know when I’m finished?

Most of us don’t consciously think through all those questions when performing a familiar routine.

We just do it.

Or at least, we used to.

Familiarity does not guarantee accessibility.

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Coming Home Is Not the Same as Picking Up Where I Left Off

One of the things I’ve learned about living with dementia is that routines can be extraordinarily important.

But I am discovering something else.

A familiar routine doesn’t necessarily remain accessible simply because I’ve done it countless times before.

Sometimes it takes a couple of days, performing familiar activities again and again, before I begin to find my way back into the routines of home.

After being away, it may take me a couple of days to regain my footing in the ordinary activities of home.

Not because the kitchen has changed.

Not because the ingredients have changed.

But because my ability to connect the pieces has changed.

And now, just as I begin to reconnect with my familiar routines, we’re preparing to leave again!

Which means another interruption.

Another homecoming.

Another period of trying to remember how to do things I’ve been doing for years.

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Designing Against Decline

For years, I’ve been developing my approach to Design Against Decline—finding ways to adapt my environment and activities so I can continue doing as much as possible despite changing abilities.

I’ve learned to simplify procedures.

To organize supplies.

To create written instructions.

To have things prepared ahead of time.

And all of those strategies help.

But this morning reminded me that even when someone else has done the preparation, the connections needed to complete the task may still be inaccessible.

Perhaps one of the things I need to design for is not simply how to perform a task, but how to return to it after an interruption.

A way back into the routine.

Something that doesn’t depend upon my remembering where to begin.

Because sometimes the greatest difficulty isn’t doing the task itself.

It’s finding the way back into something that used to be automatic.

Perhaps I need to think of returning home as another kind of transition, one that requires its own strategies and accommodations.

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The Hidden Cost of an Interruption

Travel has given us some wonderful experiences.

Family, friendships, opportunities to share my art, and things I wouldn’t want to miss.

I’m grateful that I can still participate in these parts of life.

But there are costs that aren’t necessarily visible to anyone else.

The fatigue of traveling.

The disruption of sleep.

The unfamiliar surroundings.

And then, after coming home, the work of reconnecting with ordinary life.

It isn’t simply unpacking the suitcases.

It’s trying to unpack the routines, too.

And sometimes those routines don’t seem to have made the trip home with me.

Coming home doesn’t mean my routines come home with me.

Sometimes they take a few more days to arrive.

And sometimes, before they do, it’s time to leave again.

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Associated LINKS on my own Blogsite:

My personal Facebook profile is under the name “Truthful Kindness,” and you can find more about me on this blog under the “About” tab (although that page was posted long ago and also needs updating). >> https://truthfulkindness.com/about/about-me/

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Attached Picture:

Yes; the cover photo is a digital painting of mine from ??. Again, I mostly used AlainaJensen ?? brushes , with Procreate tools on iPad that compensate for my tremors. The higher resolution picture shown below is available for free download from my Flickr acct at >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/194191353@N04/. Ai description of digital painting ??

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.Links to SOURCES used in this entry:

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Further Reading and Related Concepts on other sites:

For those who want to explore a little deeper, these links offer additional perspectives — clinical, practical, and lived.

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LINKS most viewed recently are:

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Contact Options:

Other contact options are FaceBook and “X” (aka Twitter), both under “Truthful Kindness”. On Reddit, i am at “TruthfulKindness” in groups “r/dementia”, “r/lewybodydementia”, and “r/alzheimers”. i dropped my LinkedIn membership quite a few years ago. If requesting “friend” status for any form of Social media, please send a private message explaining that you are a reader of my blog. …

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* Admin Notes — The subscription box is now located at the bottom of each blog entry. My full legal name is Truthful Loving Kindness. My formal diagnosis has remained at the stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment, although my Primary Care Physician and several other medical professionals consider it some form of dementia; my PCP records currently state “Dementia without behavioral disturbance, unspecified dementia type.” My September 2026 MRI showed no acute infarct or intracranial hemorrhage, with mild chronic white matter changes. In recent years, my PCP, my husband/care-partner, and I have jointly decided to discontinue specialist consultations, as the distance and emotional strain of repeated evaluations are not worth the cost to my well-being. My symptoms most closely resemble Lewy Body and vascular dementia patterns; however, previous SPECT and PET imaging showed the most significant brain changes in the temporal lobes, creating overlap with the logopenic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Nothing in this blog is meant as medical, legal, or service dog advice; what I share here comes from lived experience—an attempt to design around decline and make daily life more workable—so please use your own judgment and consult professionals who understand your specific situation. Text Copyright © Truthful L. Kindness, 2026Oct16. You can learn more about me under the “About Me” tab (note: that page is due for updating). Comments are welcome—please filter them through truthful loving kindness toward all concerned. As of 2026, I use ChatGPT as an editor, which improves readability and reduces the time I spend in the writing process. I do not mind re-posting of my work; however, if you do re-post, you must clearly indicate that the writing is not your own, prominently identify my authorship as Truthful Kindness, and include a clear link to my website so that questions and comments can be directed to me personally at http://www.truthfulkindness.com.

*** categ: jornl, Sx, Dementia Symptom Tips. *** tags: cognitive change, daily routine, dementia, Design against Decline, Persons Living with Dementia, PLwD, strategy, symptoms. *** Add to Pgs/ *** S&S Categ: memory/recognition, routine.

PS of short summary: After eleven days away, I returned home unable to remember how to make my usual protein drink. Even familiar routines can become inaccessible after an interruption. Sometimes it takes days to reconnect the pieces of ordinary life—and just as those connections return, it may be time to leave again!