Wednesday 19 January 2011

total recall

This morning at the gas station (yes, the same one) a woman held the door open for me. We locked eyes and she smiled swiftly. 'Well hi Jessica, how've you been?'

I burbled something and nodded and she zoomed off . I went in search of coffee. It wasn't until I was putting the lid on my cup that I realized I had no idea who she was - and I'm not sure the morning huhs? had anything to do with it.

I think my brain might be full.

Well, you can't blame it, for Pete's sakes. It's full of trifles like ancient phone numbers, words to Duran Duran songs, what we ate for dinner last night, multiplication tables and immunization schedules. It remembers things - book titles, household projects, no pink with red, table manners, how to make piecrust, websites. I can recall at a moments notice the smell of fresh-cut grass in the spring, how the sunlight striped the walls and the canopy of my bed when I was seven, my grandmother's fingers touching my arm. The melty goodness of ice cream. It knows the name of every boy and girl in my daughters' Grade One class, and can follow the plotline of (God help me) Star Wars the Clone Wars, with a side of Discovery Science.  Really, my brain should have had a stress leave years ago.

I'm probably not giving it fair odds, either. Wandering around and talking pre-caffeine is never a good idea.

So, friendly lady, I'm sorry I forgot your name. But hey, the next time you want to sing any Eighties pop songs?

I'm your girl.

10 comments:

sweetcoalminer said...

Maybe you should have a little coffee at home, before you leave. :)

Too bad you can't do a brain cleanse like a colon cleanse.

sweetcoalminer said...

Additionally, I'm totally impressed. I remember nothing. Ever. It's like functional amnesia or something. So maybe you're kind of lucky? ;)

MARY G said...

I can recite my Grade 2 poetry homework but cannot remember the name of my next door neighbour.
After coffee, that is. Before coffee I can't remember anything except where to find the coffee.

kim at allconsuming said...

You know, she may well be doing what I've done TWICE in the last week - of waving and saying hi to someone thinking they were 'someone' when in fact they were not that 'someone' at all.

I almost did it a third time but Chef saved me with a quick 'no it's not, he's put on weight but not THAT much weight'.

Classy.

Her Bad Mother said...

Eh. I forget my husband's name sometimes. And sometimes I call the kids by the cats' names, and vice versa.

You're good.

Anonymous said...

yes. this happens to me from time to time but eventually (usually in the middle of the night) it comes to me. then i sleep so much better after that.

molly said...

You're funny! The bad news is ---It gets worse---spoken by one who knows!

alison said...

I have so many 80s song lyrics stuffed inside my head it's a wonder I can remember to feed my children.

misguided mommy said...

i can remember every single useless piece of knowledge, but this woman at my sons school who i know i went to school with for like 6 YEARS I can't remember her name and every single morning it pisses me off. WHY why can't I remember her name

John said...

That happened to me at the weekend. I said hello and smiled and kept walking. Should I have admitted i didn't know who he was? I thought he LOOKED familiar.

Darn. What is worse? Forgetting? Or telling someone that you forgot? "Sorry, I never really took notice of you enough that I can remember who you are"?

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