I have learned to no longer say,"What more can happen to this country?" That seems to tempt the fates into coming up with something equally as bad if not worse. Ida is not being a lady. My heart goes out to those in her path. I am praying for their safety.
Now in a superficial vein. Imagine you are mid thought, often mid sentence while talking to someone when that space that use to be your mind empties. The word you are hunting for has just disappeared. It use to almost frighten me when it happened but now it just annoys the crap out of me. Dagnabitt, not again.
Usually if in conversation, I just relax, pick a substitute word and continue. If it happens in my thoughts and I am the only witness, I get like a bull dog trying to come up with it. Eventually it will come but not till after I have exhausted every memory trick I know to jar the word loose.
Sometimes the tricks (like reciting the alphabet) work. Often the computer helps track it down. However sometimes it is only time that works. I have been known to sit upright from a sound sleep at 2 AM saying "Crape Myrtle" into the dark. When I do recover it, I write it down on a pad by my computer because if it left me once, it probably will again.
When it really gets to me is when it is a name. If it is a famous person again the computer is an excellent source. But if it is a long ago friend or acquaintance, I sometimes get a little crazed trying to come up with the name. It is good if you live with someone with a similar history as you for they can usually bail you out. Me?? I'm on my own. Callie is no help.
Today such a name became just an empty space in my brain. It was a guy I knew well long ago. He raced a hydroplane boat and it had been about 45 years since I had seen him. Sigh. I heard a mention of hydroplane racing and thought immediately of him. However I couldn't do more that come up with his first name. Andy------? Should this be important--good grief---no---but I was stuck at home and I became obsessive.
As I watched my Marlins play a day game, part of me was doing Andy A---, Andy --- B and so forth, over and over. Nope. So I finally let go and eventually his name came like a flash out of left field in the ninth inning. Gotcha big guy.
I Googled him and found him on Facebook. There he was and I was delighted his profile picture was about 45 years old. He was in his racing gear and just as I remembered him. I was happy it was an old picture for I really didn't want to see his handsome face scared by time like mine has been.
His last FB entry was 2015 but I was now quite content. I had the name and at least there were no obituary notices on Google which at my age happens a lot. Ahhh. I'm good. It was not trying to find him that was important, just needed to remember his name.
Do you ever get obcessed trying to come up with a lost word or name or are you blessed not to have aged into that affliction yet? If you have like me, do you have any sure fire tricks?
A common occurrence for myself and my contemporaries, Patti. We treat it as a bit of a fun game and the first one to correctly remember the name wins. As you say, the name or word eventually wanders back out of the brain's woods on it's own accord into front of mind. When we least expect it. Fun times!
ReplyDeleteFlorence,
DeleteI don't think we are in too exclusive a club. It is always nice to have company. I do get surprised each time when it just pops into my head when I quit trying.
I could have written this whole blog entry myself. I feel your pain. My husband has the same problem.
ReplyDeleteDonna,
DeleteWell at least between the two of you the answer will come. It's good to have a helper.
I feel like I could've written this too, but my big thing is names and what makes it especially infuriating, it's always names of the nicest people I know like my mailman, dental assistant, girl at the bakery. Now I'm sitting here trying to remember the last one... I can't! Patti I almost chuckled at you sitting upright at 2am spouting what you were trying to remember, but in all seriousness I've been waking myself up recently talking out loud to someone. I hope it's just my brain needing interaction and not a ghost!
ReplyDeleteDoug,
DeleteDon't feel bad. I think we are all a little starved for back and forth conversations. Hum, wonder if there are any ghosts hanging around my house tonight. Won't hurt to try:)
It's part of the aging brain process, I suspect. Happens to me and my friends all the time. And it's very interesting to have that feeling you know it and it just won't be revealed. Fun post, Patti. Hope you're doing okay with this awful storm.
ReplyDeleteDjan,
DeleteI know, it hangs on to its secret with bear claws:) This storm has been so awful. They will be hurting for a long time down there. Thanks to our carelessness, Nature is piling on. We have not been good stewards.
Oh yes! My memory has gotten very very bad lately. I can't remember names of things, names of people, why I entered a room to retrieve something (what, I don't know). I have a little list I keep called Forgotten Things. When I look at it, I don't even remember typing the words on it or why I wanted to remember any of it. LOL!
ReplyDeleterobin,
DeleteSo funny. I was looking at my cheat sheet where I write the words I was looking for and they mostly puzzle me. Like why was I trying to think of "nebulizer"?
Not only names, but a particular word. "It starts with a 'c'" or some such beginning conversation...Bud tries to help at times, but the word doesn't come to us. Maybe, hours or days later!!! BUT...when it does come to either of us, we forget what we were talking about in the first place!!
ReplyDeleteAnni,
DeleteWell it is nice you have Bud to help but you are right, it can take a while. You have no idea how confused I was when I said "Crape Myrtle" at 2 AM. Life is such a delightful challenge.
My memory is pretty good. I remember names. But, David has such an awful time remembering names. I have to tell him the name if I know who he is talking about. LOL.
ReplyDeletegigi.
DeleteDavid is so lucky he has you to bail him out when that memory lapse hits. You are a great pair.
Oh yes, Patti, the missing word game... aggravating! I had the problem just yesterday when I was trying to remember the names of my daughter's 2 horses. One is Tootsie, the other... starts with an H, yes? DH couldn't remember either. I finally did. And when the kids are over and everyone is talking... if you stop to let someone else talk, then someone asks what you were going to say, I have to say, "I have no idea... "
ReplyDeleteRian,
DeleteSometimes it takes a while doesn't it? What gets me is when I lose my train of thought in mid thought and I have to confess that I have no idea where I was headed. Now that you mention it, it usually happens when interrupted just for a second.
I am 65 but often feel the same way. I drive myself crazy trying to figure out a name or where I've seen a certain actor before. I think it's my new hobby!
ReplyDeleteMargaret,
DeleteLocating the actor I find fun and a challenge. I'll see one that I know I have seen before but can't remember where. Once I have a name, IMDB is my go to source. That is kind of fun.
I'm 62 and it happens to me almost daily. It's often a word, rather than a name but I've been known to call someone by an incorrect name which was especially when it was a former employer. Yikes.
ReplyDeleteI like your alphabet trick - I've never thought of that. I just wait for that drawer in my mind to open up. This happens because our filing cabinets in our brains are full, right? :)
Eileen,
DeleteAwkward:) Even worse is when you go to introduce friends to friends and their names just disappear. I like to think we have full filing cabinets also.
Ome reason I love to blog is that I can take my time and write it out ... it's the one-on-one talks with others that drives me crazy. It's definitely old age in my case and I find it holds me back a lot. Luckily I have some loving friends who just laugh and say "take your time" and that helps.
ReplyDeleteGinnie,
DeleteKnow what you mean and I am lucky that most of my friends are in the same boat and we usually laugh.
This happens to me a LOT! Thanks for writing about it so I know it's not just me!
ReplyDeleteAwkward Widow,
DeleteOh you are not alone. It seems anyone I mention this to has the same problem. Guess we aren't too unique huh?
Oh yes! All the time.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any tricks that I use, but it's often the rhythm of the word or words that will trigger the memory. Like "Sylvia Johnson" and I'll be thinking "Gloria Swanson" That sounds almost like it rhymes, but it's really the rhythm that eventually works.
I'll try to think of something else rhythmic that's not a name. Because that would make things clearer.
Wendy,
DeleteThanks for stopping by. I haven't tried that trick but I can see where it might work with names. Thanks.
It happens to me all of the time now, names and just words. It's good to know I am not alone...I guess. :-(
ReplyDeleteLinda,
DeleteHa ha. I'm thinking it is good to know unless we are going for unique. Most people I talk to have the same affliction. Kind of comes with wrinkles.
If I lose a name in conversation, I just say Andy whatshisname, or I'd say that one who drove the Hydroplane, can't recall his name right now; then someone either fills it in or we all admit we can't remember. If I lose a word, I just make a funny face and say Oh Pfft! there goes that word and we all laugh. At home on my own, I think on it for a while, then move on to doing something else, knowing my subconscious will bring it forward. Like a crossword puzzle I am unable to work out, then when I get up the next morning it all falls into place and I finish it before breakfast.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteLike you most of my friends live on the same boat so we do laugh. I only get antsy when it is when I am thinking while alone, then I try too hard to find the word or name. It is amazing how all it really needs is time and it will appear as if by magic.
I often have problems remembering names of people I knew in the past. The other day there were two people in one day that I couldn't remember their names. All afternoon and evening I kept coming back to it and trying to think of their names. I thought of the two people right before going to sleep, and I must have worked on the puzzle in my sleep, because first thing in the morning as I was standing at the window watching for hummingbirds, both of the names popped into my head. No wonder I wake up tired sometimes, my brain is staying awake trying to compute peoples' names and other words for me.
ReplyDeletesusie,
DeleteIsn't it amazing how our minds solve those puzzles while we sleep. My Dad earned extra money in college(pre-computer days) by studying a complex math problem presented to the school by industries, sleep on it and have the answer in the mornings.
All the time. When I blog, I often just put in spaces for a word that I know will come to me eventually.
ReplyDeletejoeh,
DeleteAt first that gave me a giggle but then I thought, Dang that would work. Will definitely give it a try.
Yes. It happens to me too frequently. There is just a big blank, an empty brain, an unbelievable head shake and then I quit trying. What's even worse is when I forget what it was I was trying to remember.
ReplyDeleteBarbara,
DeleteQuite an attention getter isn't it? That is like when I walk into the computer room to look up something and forget what it was. I guess this is our reward for long life:)
This week has been especially bad with forgotten words.
ReplyDeleteMage,
DeleteThey do come in bunches don't then but some weeks not at all. Guess we should enjoy the good weeks.
A common occurrence for myself and my contemporaries, Patti.
ReplyDeleteAzka,
DeleteThank you for stopping by and commenting. Sorry you have joined the club also.
That has happened to me too! Also, some times I am visiting with my sister and my whole train of thought gets sidetracked somehow and I forget what I was talking about! Right in the middle of a story and sometimes both of us will forget "what were we talking about??!" Crazy times!
ReplyDeleteEllen D,
DeleteI get a wee bit embarrassed when who ever loses train of thought asks me,"what was I saying?" and I can't tell them. I feel like I was caught not listening:)
Dear Patti, I have no sure-fire tricks at this midpoint in my eighties. Used to have what many called a photographic memory. It's long gone. LONG GONE. My brother was the same and now when the two of us talk together we're like a comedy skit! Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee,
DeleteIt must be interesting with a sibling. I'll bet one remembers what the other is thinking of and visa versa.
Yes. That's true. And I'm always surprised at what caught our individual attention all those years ago. He's a gem. Peace.
DeleteI constantly forget words and names. Last week I was out for lunch with my friend and sister-in-law and started a conversation and kept forgetting words and each time my friend filled in the gaps. It was quite funny.
ReplyDeleteJoey,
DeleteLove it when you find someone to fill in the words. I have a friend like that and I told her between us we have one brain.
Oh yes, I usually don't obsess about it though. My husband and I used to be able to help each other, but being alone now, I'm on my own, like you describe. I have a few memory prompts that generally work, but occasionally not. Like you, the word will unexpectedly pop in so I just have to wait, but typically have long since put it all out of my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe power of suggestion ..... I went to bed, for some reason my wandering mind went to a person I didn’t even know, but I couldn't remember his name. The gambling baseball great who was banned from baseball — Pete Rose. Had to consult Google search to retrieve this name this time.
DeleteJoared,
DeleteHa ha, isn't that the way? I don't mind when it is a well known person for Google is excellent at finding that wayward name.
The lost Word always comes to me Days later in the middle of the Night usually, when it's no longer relevant.
ReplyDeleteBohemian,
DeleteToo often that happens. I do some of my best remembering at 2 AM. All we can do is laugh at the timing.
Thank you for this post, Patti. I'm really relieved. This happens to me all the time. Eventually, I'll just google another word to mean almost the same thing and hope the right one comes up. The last word that just wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't come out was VICARIOUSLY. Arrrghhh... For teachers, this was called word retrieval. Ahhh... I remembered that at least.
ReplyDelete