what did I come in here for?

Thought I would lighten the mood around here a little bit. I had several posts written before the floor shifted beneath us last week.

I heard recently that statins have been implicated in memory loss so it's a good thing I only take the lowest dose of my cholesterol drug otherwise those signs you see on the highways proclaiming 'missing elderly' might be about me.

I swear, my short term memory has gone missing. I put a pan of water on to boil for oatmeal, for tea and turn my back. Just like that, it is forgotten. I wander to my worktable and carve a bit on some wax. I wander outside drawn by the birdsong. I feed the turtle or check the ground for the last of the pecans or greet the day's blooms on the confederate rose. Any number of things vie for my attention. When I finally remember the pan of water on the stove it is half boiled away and I must start over. This time I linger in the kitchen.

I am easily distracted. Oh, I can focus. Intently. To the exclusion of all else. But unless I am zeroed in on a particular activity, I tend to flit from thing to thing. Like today. It's also the reason that it can take me three of four attempts to do or get the thing I set out to do or get. The minute I am in another room, poof. My purpose is forgotten and other things start clamoring for my attention. Finally I will make it back to my starting point only to realize that whatever errand I had set out on went undone. So I try again. And again.

I seem to have forgotten how to spell too, not that I was ever a great speller but I was, at least, adequate. Now, with these automatic spellcheckers, I am constantly having to make corrections. Some of that can be attributed to clumsy typing and I swear there are days when I can't seem to type worth a flip. But then there are those stubborn words that refuse to be corrected no matter how many times I replace the 'a' with an 'e' or take out that redundant consonant or add the extra one in or substitute the 's' with a 'z'. I seem to be consulting the dictionary more and more.

I don't know if these memory 'lapses' are due to the drug I am taking now or the copious amounts of different drugs I took in the past or just because I'm not dead yet. I don't think I'm in danger of wandering away. Well, obviously I will wander away, that's already been established, but I don't forget where I live so I think I'm safe. For now.

But regarding those highway signs? Keep your eye out for me anyway, just in case.