I realize that doubts about my mental acuity are a common theme in these pages.
There has been much made of the parlous state of the memory of two high profile political candidates in the media in recent weeks. But you don’t have to be in your 9th or even 8th decade to be concerned about a possible decline in your mental capacity.
I was walking the dogs on the beach a couple of weeks ago when we bumped into our elderly neighbour coming towards us. As Goofy yapped at him and Max bounced around at his feet, I gave him a wave and a rueful grin. He tried to say something but at first I couldn’t hear it over the cacophony, so he had to repeat himself. “Do I know you? Am I supposed to know who you are?”
I was quite taken aback and could only laugh in bemusement, while he shrugged and walked off. I still don’t understand what that was about. Had he forgotten me? After our lawn mowing contretemps of last year? Or is it me that’s got it wrong? It’s true there’s no shortage of elderly white men wandering the landscape up here, and fairly indistinguishable at times. Still baffling though.
And then last week I saw a familiar nurse from work at a completely different hospital. “Oh, do you work here now?” I asked her. “Yes” she said, patiently “I told you that when we bumped into each other here last week.” I laughed it off but was quite shaken. Here it was, finally: the irrefutable proof that I’m losing my marbles. I confessed this to one of my friends a couple of days later, and she cheered me up no end by saying that it was her the nurse had talked to the previous week. This colleague and I get mistaken for each other all the time, in spite of her being (relatively) young and beautiful.
So, I’m back where I started. Open to the possibility of cerebral dysfunction without any incontrovertible evidence (that I can remember). Reassuring or no?