It is hard for me to leave home with
all my paraphernalia in tow when I have more than one event on my daily
calendar. Last week, I had practice with the family band in a different county,
immediately followed by watching my granddaughter perform with the high school
band at a football game in yet another county.
I was gathering up my practice items
(ukulele, Kindle, music stand, book with every possible chord, tuner, capo) and preparing
for the football game (camera, jacket, bag to carry items). As I put everything
together, I looked at the stack and thought, Oh, yeah, something’s missing. I’ll go to the closet and get it.
Except, when I got to the closet, I couldn’t remember what I needed to get. “Sometimes
my memory fails me,” I told my husband. “I can’t remember what I forgot.”
I looked at my watch and made a mad
dash for the car. If I left immediately, I wouldn’t be pressed for time.
A couple of miles down the road, I
called my mom to tell her I was on the way. “Now, I remember what I intended to
bring!” I said. “I thought I would need a cap to keep the sun out of my eyes at
the game.”
“I have one I’ll send with you,” she
said.
“I’ll be there in plenty of time,” I
said. Well, those were optimistic words. First delay was a wreck. The second
and longer delay was road construction. I made it in the nick of time and my
mom had figured out a strategy for me to make it to the game on time following practice.
I left my car in a convenient place so that I wouldn’t have as far to drive to
the game.
I met up with my daughter-in-law
Stacey and rode to the game with her. At the game, Stacey was helping push
equipment onto the field, and I thought I’d do a camera check before the band
began their performance. I focused in on Stacey and the button wouldn’t push
down. I tried several times, but nothing happened.
I looked at the screen and it said, “Memory
card failed.” Well, that was a new one. The card I like to use was sometimes
locked. Of course, I only had my camera—the extra battery and cards were in the
car.
I took the card out, put it back in.
Same message. Again, and again. Finally, success, and I snapped several good
photos of my granddaughter dancing, twirling and tossing her flag.
Life certainly gets more complicated
when memory fails—whether on my camera or in my brain.
Each of us counts on our memory to
help us make it through the day. Dementia impairs memory enough that a person
cannot complete daily tasks. Forgetting what I went to the closet to find
caused an inconvenience, but it didn’t keep me from doing the things I wanted
to do. I consider it a good sign that I eventually remembered my cap and found
a substitute.
Without a resolution, my camera
would have let me down at a time when I needed it. I’m glad that I resolved the
camera issue and that the memory problem was a temporary thing. All it took was
resetting the memory card. Now, if only, I can find a way to reset my brain
when it lets me down.
Copyright © October 2018 by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ
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