February 10, 2011
“I saw the quote "Every morning is the dawn of a new error" on a tee shirt somewhere, but I can't remember where or I would go back and buy one. Truth is, I can't remember a lot these days
It wasn't always like that.
When I was 21 and living in my first apartment, the insurance agent said I needed to catalogue each item in every drawer and closet in case of loss or damage. I told him "no", that would not be necessary since I could sit down right now and provide him with a list of every single belonging.
I had a great memory then and not much stuff.
Today, I have a lot of stuff and not much memory.
I am sorry to say that life for those of a certain age is becoming what Sharon told me the other day on the phone, or was it Susan. I think it was Sharon.
"At our age, we are in lower gear but still propelling forward, and our ship is sinking just like our memory."
"Oh that is profound," I said, "I have to write that down. I will never remember it."
She called me back five minutes later and said, "Do you happen to remember what I just told you? I can't. I hope you wrote it down because I want to remember it, too."
At least I am not in the boat alone.
The next day, I was on a short road trip with Susan (I am certain it was Susan), and as we drove along we lamented our loss of memory. She told me about a new book just published about forgetting everything and about growing old.
Intrigued, I asked Susan, "What's the name of the book?"
Susan said, "I can't remember a thing."
Me either, I replied and laughed.
Exasperated, she tried again.
"I Can't Remember a Thing," she reiterated, meaning that was the name of the book.
I still didn't "get it", and from there our conversation became a remake of Abbott and Costello's famed "Who's on First" sketch.
Turns out, the book to which Susan was referring was actually Nora Ephron's new novel, "I Remember Nothing." I learned the correct title from friend Beth.
Giggle, giggle, I got the last laugh after all because Susan didn't remember the name of the book correctly.
That scenario happened last week, most of which as you can tell, I have since forgotten. Now, I find myself wondering if it was in fact Susan who told me about the title of the book first and Beth second, or vice versa.
Never mind; doesn't matter. I located the correct title. I simply Googled it.
Its author Nora Ephron, famed novelist and screenwriter, "googles" a lot, too.
In fact, she says that we are living in the Google years, and for those of us who can remember nothing, that is a good thing.
Nora writes: "When you forget something, you can whip out your iPhone and go to Google. The Senior Moment has become the Google Moment, and it has a much nicer, hipper, younger, more contemporary sound, doesn't it."
She explains more: "By handling the obligations of the search mechanism you almost prove you can keep up...There's none of the nightmare of the true Senior Moment--the long search for the answer...you just go to Google and retrieve it."
"You can't retrieve your life (unless you're on Wikipedia, in which case you can retrieve an inaccurate version of it). But you can retrieve the name of that actor who was in that movie, the one about World War II...or the name of that song that was sung by that singer, the one about love. You know the one."
But sometimes, she says, "I'm forced to conclude that I remember nothing."
Me, too, because I just misplaced my iPhone and, for the moment, cannot Google. I think Sharon (or was it Susan or was it Beth) was right. My ship is indeed sinking.
