Senior moments

At 53, I was the youngest of the three women who met for lunch yesterday. We meet a couple of times a year for lunch and it is always a fun time for catching up but yesterday’s get together could have been a stanza from Billy Collins’ poem “Forgetfulness”.

“Wait,” I interrupted at one point. “When did they get a divorce?” About 10 years ago apparently. Did I forget that, or did I never know? I have no idea.

The whole meal was punctuated with expressions of forgetfulness.

“It’s on the tip of my tongue.”

“I don’t remember the name…”

“Oh, what’s that word?”

“It just slipped my mind,”

“My mind just went blank. What was I saying?”

What will we have to talk about when we are all in our 80s and 90s? I have no idea.

 

 

Libraries to the rescue

I pulled into the grocery store parking lot at 5 on the dot. It was the end of the first week of school and I wanted to treat myself (celebratory ice cream?) and get grocery shopping for next week out of the way.

I grabbed my school bag, heavy with a laptop, exited the car and walked to the trunk where I would keep the bag while I shopped. I hefted the bag into the trunk and opened it to get my wallet.

I couldn’t find it.

I pulled everything out and it still wasn’t there. As I repacked my school bag, I realized that I must have left the wallet on my desk as I packed it before leaving school. I remembered taking the wallet out in order to make room for everything I wanted to take home. Apparently, I’d forgotten to put it back in.

Getting back into the car, without my treat or groceries, I thought about what to do. By the end of the five-minute drive home, I had a plan.  After parking the car, I texted my VP. Her office is close to my classroom and maybe she’d still be there at 5:15. I entered the house to Lucy’s manic greeting and took her for a walk, hoping for news when we returned.

After her quick walk, Lucy got dinner and I checked the phone. My VP was already home. I was disappointed but decided I had one last hope. Maybe someone was still at school and checking their email. I could send out an email SOS.

I opened my school email, looking for an “all staff” email I could use for a “Reply all” when I noticed that Kelly, our school Library Assistant, had sent a message mere minutes before.

Hope rose in my heart.

I sent the SOS directly to her and she replied. At 5:30 pm. On the first Friday of school.

Relief washed over me.

On Saturday, I took a credit card and walked to the grocery store. With my driver’s license at school, I didn’t want to tempt fate by driving. The walk was about 20 minutes, so I didn’t get the celebratory ice-cream – for fear it might melt- but I walked home knowing I had what I needed for the week and that my wallet was safe.