Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Mom Moment - The brain cells are gone

I was standing in my mother's kitchen on Saturday when she walked into the laundry room. I heard her ask out loud, "Now what did I come in here for?" There was a long silence as she thought for a few moments. "Oh yeah," she recalled out loud and began to dig around for something.

Now there was a time that I would have laughed out loud at her! As a teenager, this would have created many a joke for the rest of the day. But this time, I said nothing. You see, now that I have three children, I am becoming more like my own mother everyday. The conversation she was having with herself sounded all too familiar to me now.

My brain cells are clearly disappearing and I am reminded of that almost daily now.

Yesterday, I ran upstairs to get something. Once I got up there, I totally forgot what I went up there for. I stood around trying to think and for the life of me, never remembered.

I find that if something comes to my mind while talking with my husband, I have to interrupt and tell him right away or write it down. If I don't, I will probably forget it even when prompted to remember.


My oldest daughter has to remind me over and over to get her the things she asked me for. I can't get mad because my pattern in that I totally forget in the midst of all I am doing.

I have dialed a phone number and by the time someone picks up on the other end, I have completely forgotten who I called. Now, normally the voice helps me remember, but there have been times that I have to say, "Oh my goodness, this is Mary, who did I call?"

I was searching my car for my cell phone the other day and couldn't find it. I finally gave up and drove to my destination. When I climbed out of the car, my cell phone was found...IN MY LAP!

I had a great example of a mommy moment I thought of on Sunday and wanted to blog. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was!!!! Help! I have forgotten what I was supposed to include here. (I have dwelled on this post for 2 days trying to come up with it)

Is it just me or is anyone else losing their mind?

21 comments:

... said...

this kind of behavior always bothered me as i witnessed it from my grandma and even my mom. i just wanted to say, "how can you not remember." but now that i'm experiencing it more and more, it's not funny. in fact, for me, it's scary. i don't want to lose my memory - or my mind!

Susan said...

We must be careful of our words we speak about and over ourselves. It can become self-fulfilling. I DO remember things!!!!!!!
Susan

Momma Roar said...

:) I think its having young kids in the house and there are soooo many things we need to remember! But, I can remember as a child running upstairs for something and not remembering once I got there - for me, it started a looong time ago.

Seriously though, I do need to write things down more (or tell my children to remember) because I don't want it to start to become an excuse, kwim?

Fun post Mary!!

Lori said...

I can relate. I know exactly what you are talking about.

I've become rather forgetful too.

Believe me I have to write lots of things down too.

I've done the telephone one too(forget whom I've called)

I think it is because we are so busy with so much on our minds all of the time.
Too much Multi Tasking (hehe)

ChicoryChick said...

I can totally identify. It gets worse with each child (either that or I cant remember how it was with the one before)and I now have five....imagine how many brain cells I have lost!

ChicoryChick said...

ummm, what was I going to comment about? Oh wait, I already commented. ;)

Mary@notbefore7 said...

Kay, that cracked me up! I have to agree with some of you. It has gotten worse with each child. I have so much to remember "for them" that I forget things. I will be headed to the kitchen to get something and am interrupted so many times, I forget what I am doing!

Nice to know I am not alone :)

I am hoping that maybe when they are all gone it will get better!

Alycia said...

I can totally identify!! I do this daily and have now taken to keeping lists everywhere :) I think it is because we are so busy as moms, doing multiple things, throughout the day.

Such a fun post ~ thanks!!

Anonymous said...

It's definitely not just you. Oh, what pride I used to take in my sharp memory.

MorningSong said...

I have SO called someone and forgot who I called. The worst!! I've also called someone and then my husband answered their phone. I mean I called him by habit instead and actually asked for the person I was calling. All the while thinking - was that my hubby and why is he answering their phone! haha
We do lose brain cells. The first pregnancy on - they seep out and never return! I hate that part! haha

Amber said...

Ummm...let me think (can't do that very well any more) YES!!! It's gone, it met up with my size 6 figure and ran FAR AWAY!!!!! I don't think I'll find either one of them again!

0:) Amber

Anonymous said...

LOL, ummm, nope, it's not just you! I was doing pretty good until I got preggy this last time. SInce then, it's all been downhill. I have to write everything down and even then, I forget, LOL.

we are reilly said...

I always made fun of my mom for not remembering things -- we called it her "beginning of dementia"....now, she's passed it along to me -- so, there's two of us!

I think it's caused by multi-tasking and stress. My MIL doesn't seem to have it...she pretty much has had a 'cushy' life without much stress --unless you count my FIL as stress! :)

Christin said...

And to think I had thought I was the only person who ever had to ask who it was that I just called!! ...though I have to admit, that happened BEFORE kids. I don't seem to have the time to make phone calls these days. and if I do...
*stumped* I can't remember where I was going with that statement. Seriously. I got distracted. And now it's *poof* gone.
*rolling my eyes*
Oh well...at least I'm in good company.

lori said...

you are NOT alone...I laughed when you said that you dialed the number and forgot who you called...did THAT the other day..:)I blame it on too much multi-tasking...
i suppose that as long as i remember to get up, it's a good day!

onemotherslove said...

oh, you are not alone...

weavermom said...

Not alone.

One time when I was pregnant, I forgot to use a hot mat when taking a casserole out of the oven!

Another time I filled my humidifier with water, forgot to put the cap back on and dumped the majority of 2 gallons of water all over me and my bathroom floor. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm alittle slow in reading this post, but I loved this. This is my life on a daily basis! I agree with Susan and totally believe in a good confession, but I must admit that I work very hard on keeping my memory in tact :) We really do live such busy lives and keeping everything in order is not always easy. Just keep looking, I think the brain cells are still there my friend, you just have a load on your plate hiding them :)

Lisa said...

You are right on with this post! I am right there with you.
I really think that we are just so busy remembering everything for everyone else that we take a back seat to it all. And the more kids you have, the worse it is. Last night, my 8 year old said to me she needed a ponytail holder in her backpack for gym class so she could put her hair up. So I fell asleep thinking about reminding her and it was the first thing I thought of this morning. Sure enough, she went off to school today with the ponytail holder. And sure enough, when I got out and about today I looked down and realized that I was without my watch, wedding rings and earrings. My brain was so wrapped up with the silly hair tie! I should've just told her the minute she asked me, to go and get one herself and put it in her bag if she needed it.
That just would have been way to easy!
Lisa

Jennifer@DoingTheNextThing said...

I'm right there with you, Mary. A friend once theorized it's not that we don't have good memories, but that our lives move at such a rapid pace our brains don't take the time to keep the info ... literally in one ear (or thought) and out the next! Whatever the case, it's frustrating sometimes!

Anonymous said...

Well, it only gets worse, so hold on, sister! :-)

I routinely wander around looking for my glasses, only to find them on my head. Yesterday, I was panicked because there was a meeting going on and I thought I forgot I was supposed to be there (turned out they didn't tell me about it) -- I was really concerned for a moment that I could have forgotten something that important. I open browser tabs and then forget what it was I wanted to read on that particular site.

After the second kid, it was like a lobotomy. The front lobe has never been the same.