Slips of the Mind: The Fickle Fiend of Aging

Hmmm, if it slips your
mind, is it gone forever or just stuck in the gaps of memory?

If you are middle-aged
or older, you know that memory becomes a fickle fiend as the years go by.
Sometimes it performs flawlessly and other times it fails miserably.

I remind myself over and
over again during the day: I have to
remember to stop at the grocery store and pick up milk, toilet paper and
bananas. And still, I get home, open the fridge door and think: Crap! I forgot!

I bump into someone I
have not seen in a while. I cover my tracks with casual conversation while I
think: His name. What is his name? Dan?
Stan? Sam?

And most frustrating of
all: I walk from one room to the next, stop in mid-step and think: What the hell was I coming in here for?

Fortunately, it does not
fall all on the negative side of the ledger.

At this time of year, it
is dark when I leave for work. I turn off the garage light before I get into my
car. In the dark, my hand reaches around the steering wheel and inserts the key
into the ignition hole perfectly. My brain, amazingly, has memorized the exact
sequence of muscular movements to perform that function.

I sit in the conference
room at work as a presentation is about to begin. I hear a voice behind me. My
brain instantly recognizes it as Joe Smith, even though I only meet up with him
a few times a year.

I walk down the hall and
see the profile of someone from behind. My brain connects the dots – gender,
hair colour and length, height, posture, stride – George Anderson.

Science tells us that
there are three types of memory each with its own characteristics.

Short-term
memory: Information
stored for about one minute with a capacity limited to about 7 items. (In my
case, some days I am down to 3 items at best.)

Long-term
memory: This memory,
events from short term memory encoded for storage, in theory has unlimited
content and duration capacity for things like personal memories, facts and
figures – and apparently, the profile of a person from behind. But, alas, not
names.

Skill
memory: This memory
stores automatic learned memories like tying a shoe, riding a bike, playing an
instrument – and apparently, inserting a key into the ignition in the dark.

I am a mixed metaphor
where memory is concerned. My skill memory seems to be a steel trap. My long
term memory is as sharp as an exacto knife at times and a dull blade at others.
My short term memory is…is… you know, that thing with holes in it… the thing
you use to drain the water off of pasta…

Oh, you fickle fiend! I
just know you are laughing at me now.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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