Overload or Dementia?

I may be losing my mind.  I’m actually a bit scared.

I was driving up St. Mary’s Street recently and passed by one of DJ’s best friend’s house.  I looked at the house and could picture the girl who lived there, but her name escaped me.  I couldn’t come up with it – a kid that my daughter hangs out with a lot!  A kid I really like!

I glanced in the back seat at Michelle – “What’s the girl’s name that is DJ’s best friend at school?” I inquired in a panic.

“Kimmey?”, she asked as if I had just fallen out of a tree.

“Yea.  Yea.  Kimmey.”

She frowned.  I sped up.

Three days later, as I was trying to fall asleep, it popped in my head, You don’t know your pin number.  The four digit code I’d had since I was 16 was gone, lost in a cerebral brain fart.  I thought I’d remembered it and dozed on off.  The next day I realized I had not remembered.  I drove up to the ATM and punched in a series of four digits.  I was denied my cash.

I punched in a different code.  The machine scoffed. 

Time three and time four were no better.  I called the 800 number on the back of my debit card.  Apparently no one, including myself, knew that number.  It’s encoded in the strip on the card.  I held the card to my forehead – to no avail.  I was about to lose something that brought me much comfort.  It was like I had forgotten my child’s birthday.

What in the heck is going on?  Do I have a brain tumor?  Is early onslaught Alzheimer’s headed my way?  Hardening of the arteries?  A nervous breakdown?  I got no idea.

A friend suggested that maybe I was on overload.  Can that cause you to forget things that should be embedded into your brain?

I’ve been out-of-town some portion of every weekend since late May.  On Saturday, we got home at 11:30 pm from a great overnight at the lake.  On Sunday I taught Sunday School, mowed, edged, and blew the yard, cleaned out the gutters and swept off the roof, rode bikes with Michelle, took two to the pool, helped a friend move a table, shopped for groceries, cooked dinner for the extended family, knocked out four loads of clothes for the four-week summer camper, addressed six thank you notes for DJ and wrote two blog posts.  I snuggled with my girls and put them to bed.  Finally, I sat down and drank a beer.

As I was falling asleep, I remembered my pin. 

I guess I’m suffering from brain delay.  It’s all still in there, just going to take a few days to pull it out.

Posted by Danny Tanner on August 15, 2012

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