Today was it: Linden Tree Day! Hector and I sat beneath the perfumed trees this morning and breathed in springtime. Last night, walking home from dinner at Nice Matin, Janet and I were hit with the scent at the top of the hill on West End and 79th. My favorite day of the year.
UNDER THE LINDENS! LINDEN TREE DAY RETURNS…
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Cathleen,
I just read your article in Reader’s Digest, “Is Your Memory Normal?”. OMG! Finally, someone who shares my agony/halarity (for you must have a good sense of humor when you live in such an obscure world). I, too, have always been forgetful, as was my own mother. In my 20’s I stumbled across a hand-penned poem and recognized the style as my own. I took it to my sister and said, “Look what I found! A poem I wrote when we were teenagers.” She gave me a blank stare. “I wrote that poem when I was 15,” she said. “Don’t you remember?” When I was 18, I traveled via Greyhound to visit my best friend from high school in her college town. When we made a scheduled ‘stop’ I decided to get off the bus and go to the bathroom. To my surprise there was my friend and her boyfriend. “How did you know I’d be here?” I asked incredulously. “We planned it silly,” said my friend. I had arrived at my destination without realizing it. On another occasion, at a very early age, I went back to my hometown to visit friends. I saw a couple that I thought I had met in the recent city I resided. “What are you guys doing here?” I asked, surprised that I would happen upon new acquaintances in my old hometown. “We grew up here; never left” they proclaimed quizzically. I thought, Oh, yeah. These are old friends, not new ones! In my early 40’s I worked as a supervisor in an accounting department. Late one Friday evening I answered the phone and scribbled a message for the clerk. The following Monday she was making the rounds to find the author of the note to ask for more information. When she came to me I said, “Well, the handwriting kind of looks like mine but I didn’t write it. Sorry, it wasn’t me.” A couple of hours later it dawned on me out of the blue. I remembered the incident clearly when just 2 hours earlier I had no recognition whatsoever! And I didn’t even recognize my own handwriting! I’ve learned to never argue with my kids. If they tell me I said something or did something I just duck my head and agree. I’ve been proven wrong too many times. I recently had female body drama and was shuffled to 4 doctors in one day. When they asked for my insurance card at one office I was sure I’d left it at the last office. They called and the poor girl searched frantically and finally said she was certain I hadn’t left it there. An hour later I remembered leaving it at the pharmacy. 2 weeks later that same office called to find out why I’d missed my follow up appointment. “Your receptionist never gave me an appointment card”, I exclaimed indignantly. I found the card in my wallet a few days later. I’ll apologize if I ever go back. I’ll be 50 next April and I’m so relieved to be able to blame this bad memory on age. I am finally coming in to my own!
I have just read your article on memory. OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! I am exactly the same. Have researched this quite a bit and came to the conclusion I have ADD. I am a senior now and have always joked that if I should ever get senile nobody will ever see a difference because I have have always been like that!! Your article was so funny and lighthearted and I really enjoyed it, because all my reading on this problem have been so serious and scholarly and consider this a major handicap. It has caused me so many hugely embarrassing moments during my entire life. I consider this to be a huge handicap too, especially regarding employment.
I think my mother had this same affliction and two of my siblings also. One of my sons was diagnosed with ADD when he 30. When he was in school his grades were horrific even tho he has a genius IQ . He is now a medical doctor!! Cathleen, did you not ever consider that you may have ADD? Just wondering. Again, I just want to say that I have never before read an article that EXACTLY describe me. It is so great to know there are other people like me with exactly the same problem. Thank you so much. I hope to see more
comments from other people. Perhaps we could form a club…..Imagine a group meeting where nobody remembers anything! How fun!! Love you Cathleen, and I intend to read all your books because we are kindred spirits.