Who? What?
"You know," my friend Nancy says, "that woman that sat next to you when we worked together." No, I didn't, I could still see her face and hear her voice but her name has totally escaped me as has the name of the first boy I kissed in high school. His face is blurrier, maybe because that was in the dark. Nancy and I visit by phone 2-3 times a week. At least once a week she asks me why I moved so far away. She hasn't forgotten, she's complaining. I'm appreciative that it matters.
This came up because I talked books with my sister this morning who is also a voracious reader. I was telling her what I was reading and couldn't remember the author's name. I just finished reading"Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee, excellent and remembered her name. I am plowing through "X" by Sue Grafton, but couldn't remember her name. Ack.
Nancy and I have been friends for around 30 years. We took our first trip to Alaska together. we visited La Connor, WA in December each year to Christmas shop. I have several pairs of nice fish-shaped earrings (I'm a Pisces and the child of a fisheries biologist) I gifted myself over several of those visits. We sighed in relief together when our eldest children graduated from high school. Little did we know. We both have heads full of assorted trivia. Before smart phones we were the people that others came to ask "What was..." This year both of us seems to have lost a a portion of that.
"as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain...
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart."
Billy Collins
My father who had nearly total recall and could remember whole pages of books he had read and the page number, was stricken because he thought his memory was going. None of us could tell but now I know its more personal than that. We know what we have forgotten even if it doesn't show. I guess if no one else notices how bad can it be?
This came up because I talked books with my sister this morning who is also a voracious reader. I was telling her what I was reading and couldn't remember the author's name. I just finished reading"Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee, excellent and remembered her name. I am plowing through "X" by Sue Grafton, but couldn't remember her name. Ack.
Nancy and I have been friends for around 30 years. We took our first trip to Alaska together. we visited La Connor, WA in December each year to Christmas shop. I have several pairs of nice fish-shaped earrings (I'm a Pisces and the child of a fisheries biologist) I gifted myself over several of those visits. We sighed in relief together when our eldest children graduated from high school. Little did we know. We both have heads full of assorted trivia. Before smart phones we were the people that others came to ask "What was..." This year both of us seems to have lost a a portion of that.
"as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain...
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart."
Billy Collins
My father who had nearly total recall and could remember whole pages of books he had read and the page number, was stricken because he thought his memory was going. None of us could tell but now I know its more personal than that. We know what we have forgotten even if it doesn't show. I guess if no one else notices how bad can it be?
posted by Celia | September 23, 2017
|
7 Comments
