Now Who Are You?

This seems to be happening more frequently lately. For a while I thought it was my (old) age, but I’m beginning to think that it isn’t. This is happening to a lot of younger folks, even my kids who are now all middle aged: Not being able to remember people’s names. How many times have you had a conversation with someone or multiple people and no one can remember a person’s name? You might be able to remember their spouse’s name, their dog’s name, where they live, the car they drive, but for the life of me, I can’t remember their name. 

There was a family that lived in Underhill many years ago, and I remember Gael talking about them because they might have had something to do with a carnival. I drive by their house frequently but couldn’t remember the name. It bothered me for weeks, and then one day it came to me, and now I remember it all the time. I can go down the alphabet and a first name might come to me that way, but not always. I might go through the VAE roster looking for someone’s name and occasionally I’ll find it, but not always. 

Occasionally, I’ll be talking to some local who is really old. They can remember everyone and their families too. Sometimes they even remember how many cows they had and how many cans of milk they had every day, the name of their horses, and what color their house was. How does that happen? I suppose it’s all about what you’re interested in. Some people don’t give a hoot about things like that, but I find all that old stuff interesting. 

Gael’s family moved to Underhill in the late 1920s, so Gael remembers the people back quite a way, and I guess that interest was passed on to me. I remember meeting Clark Wright’s parents in the 1950s and the day Vivian hosted a garden club luncheon in the early 1960s. A wonderful lady. I remember Pev Peake and all the Hupmobile stories too. Do you think I can remember the name of the people that bought a house down the road a few years ago? Nope! When I ask someone else what their names are, that person can’t remember either. Conversations like that happen frequently and we are just getting used to it and chuckle about it. What else can you do!