With Age Comes ... What???

My daughter Meghann has a beautiful voice, and from the time she was just a little girl, she's always loved to sing. She was in choir at school and church, and now she often sings on Sunday mornings in the church where her husband Barrett is the pastor. When Meg was a teenager, not only did she sing all the time around the house, she also created her own tunes ... and some of them were quite catchy. The most famous of Meghann's homemade songs will forever live on in our family ... Matt, Brad and I will always remember the words and the melody to this one song in particular. For months and months, Meghann would sing, "When old people drop something, they pick it up, pick it up, pick it up ... when old people drop something, they pick it up, all day long." I didn't say her songs made sense, I said they were catchy. While I have no clue as to what made Meghann choose those words to her song, I do know that there are certain things that come to those of us who are ... well ... who are aging. I do drop things more now than I used to, and most of the time, when I drop them, I pick them up. I have indeed become Meg's song.

I'm sure most of you have heard the expression, "With age comes wisdom." I would agree that there are areas of life that I feel I've become wiser in over the years. I've learned that status ... where I live or what I drive or how I dress ... isn't nearly as important as what I believe in or whom I help or how I listen to others. I've learned that spending time with the people I love should be treasured and absorbed and remembered because any of us could be gone tomorrow. I've learned that my dad was correct when he said that cars last much longer when you do the basic maintenance on them. In fact, I've learned that my dad was right about most of the things he taught me. I've learned that it's perfectly OK to go to Walmart in the grubbiest clothes I own ... the world hasn't stopped once when I did. I've learned that a pair of comfortable shoes can change my entire outlook on life. I've learned that it is way better to give to someone in need that it is to receive a gift myself. I've learned that it is rewarding to put in a good day's work for the wages I am paid. I've learned that love and relationships are the most important things in life ... for and with one another, and for and with my God. I've learned that you're never too old to find yourself and be the person God created you to be.

I would also have to say, however, that with age comes some things that do not involve such wondrous avenues of enlightenment and wisdom. With age also comes aching bones and sleepless nights, not hearing or seeing as well as I used to, being more set in my way of doing things, having much less of a filter between my brain and my mouth, and ladies, two words ... hot flashes. But perhaps the most challenging arrival for me over the last couple of years since my 50th birthday has been the difference I've seen in my ability to remember things. I'm not just talking about the kind of forgetfulness where you walk into a room and can't remember why you went in there or when you can't remember where you parked your car ... I'm talking the kind where you don't remember that you even have a room to walk into or a car to lose in the parking lot ... I have days when I can't remember anything. I have to make lists for everything I need to do, everywhere I need to be, every item I need to purchase ... I have sticky notes on my desk at work and on my cabinets at home. I have to put the notes in places where I have no choice but to see them or otherwise I forget where I put the lists or that I even made them in the first place.

Now having disclosed that lovely part of my 50-something adventure, I'm going to share an experience from yesterday morning ... one of those times that either cause me to laugh or cry, depending on my frame of mind at the moment. Every evening when I get home from work, I have a routine with Julie and Ollie. They go outside and potty, and then I fill their bowls and they eat ... Julie in the bedroom and Ollie in the bathroom so that they don't fight over the food. Julie's bowl stays in the bedroom, but I pick Ollie's bowl up when he is finished and I put it in one of two places, on the shelf in the bathroom or on top of the fridge in the kitchen. In the morning when we wake up, we repeat the same routine ... dogs out to potty, fill their bowls with food, put Ollie's bowl up. So yesterday morning after Julie and Ollie came inside, I went to get Ollie's bowl to fill it with food. But ... Ollie's bowl wasn't in the bathroom. Ollie's bowl wasn't in the kitchen. I looked everywhere and Ollie's bowl wasn't anywhere. Since I had two hyper hungry hounds bouncing all around my legs, I gave up the search and grabbed a Rubbermaid container and put Ollie's food in it. Then I jumped in the shower and went about my own morning routine in getting ready for the day. In fact, I never thought about Ollie's missing food bowl again until I opened my fridge to get some eggs to cook for breakfast. There on the shelf next to my sugar-free Cool Whip sat Ollie's bowl. Now unless Julie and Ollie managed to get up in the night and put his bowl in the fridge, I must have at some point during the evening taken Ollie's bowl and placed it there myself ... obviously, however, I don't remember doing it.

It frightens me more than a little that I have so many issues with my memory ... you see, I watched my dad for years as Alzheimer's slowly destroyed his once sharp mind and robbed him of every memory he ever had. It more than just frightens me that I forget so many things now ... it absolutely terrifies me to think my lack of memory could be the early signs of Alzheimer's. But when I opened the fridge yesterday morning and saw Ollie's bowl perched next to my Cool Whip, I couldn't help myself ... I laughed out loud. I mean, come on ... putting the dog's bowl in the fridge is funny in and of itself. But then not remembering when or why I put it there and spending 15 minutes searching the house for the bowl only to discover it when I went to gather things to fix my own breakfast ... that is just plain old hilarious.

So tonight I think I'll just give up and embrace my forgetfulness ... I'll hope I've gained a little wisdom ... and I'm off to try to find the new toothbrush I bought over my lunch hour today. Hmmm ... maybe I should check the fridge.