I read a book last year called Still Alice. This book is about a brilliant, internationally recognized Harvard professor who has early onset of Alzheimers. The book was heartbreaking as Alice battled this terrible disease until, over a very short period of time, she doesn't remember much of anything.
Why am I mentioning this? I find that in normal conversations I often cannot remember very simple things. They are things that I can fully describe, but just cannot come up with the word. A shallot is a perfect example. Sometimes I just cannot remember this word, but I can tell you that is similar to a miniature onion although not as strong. They are often sold 2-3 in a webbed package. But do you think I can remember that word? Absolutely not. I was trying to remember the band ZZ Top the other night. I described the long-haired guitar playing dudes with the loooonnnng beards who sang about cheap sunglasses and a sharp dressed man and copied John Lee Hooker's ahowhowhow. Could I remember the name ZZ Top? Absolutely not.
While I don't think I necessarily have Alzheimers, I certainly do find this trend disturbing and frustrating. I prefer to think it's just an age thing but who knows. For right now, tonight, I can remember the word shallot and the name of the band ZZ Top and that will just have to be good enough.
1 comment:
I read this book about a year ago. I cried at the end. If you get alzheimers I am putting you in a home. But you won't know what's going on anyway, so it won't really matter. I'll visit you three times a week though.
Post a Comment