A mind is a terrible thing to waste--and Susan should know since she does it daily

I'm getting to an age where the generation before me is starting to disappear or become seriously ill. My husband lost both of his folks within a couple months of each other this past fall and early winter. My uncle recently left the hospital for a nursing home, which fortunately in his case is an interim step toward going back to his own home. Both of my brainstorming partner's parents are gravely ill and she's spent most of the new year on the other side of the state tending to them.

People are definitely living longer these days, but one lousy side effect is the mental deterioration that accompanies those latter years for many of the elderly. My mother-in-law had Alzheimer’s. So did my brother's father-in-law and one of my parents' good friends. My mom is becoming very forgetful.


Of, course so am I, and with half the excuse. I blame it on (wincing over the word) menopause. Well, that and my own occasional too-easily diverted absentmindedness. I used to be such an organized little chica. Those days are gone, gone, gone. At the end of January I bought the new Nora Jones CD. I downloaded it to my iTunes program. . .and then I do not have the foggiest idea what I did with the original. I've looked in all the reasonable places, but chances are I had the CD case in my hand when something else caught my eye and I set it down in some out-of-the -way place while I dealt with the distracter. Or it's possible I shelved it with a book--in which case I'll be lucky to find it any time this year. Sigh.


I know that part of my problem is thinking two or three steps ahead to the detriment of the step that I'm in. (For instance, I was mulling over what to write in this blog just now as I was exchanging my Eccos for my ballet slippers and I picked up the shoe I had just removed and started to put it back on again. . .on the wrong foot)

So somebody HELP me! Throw me a mental exercise to keep me on track. Or at least tell me that I'm not the only one who does inexplicable, ridiculous things!