AAADD

Someone sent me a forward titled AAADD: Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. Well, it can happen, or is it short term memory loss, STML. Or do we just get to the point that trying to organize becomes just too much trouble. Follow the thread, look between the raindrops, allow yourself to be, and for heaven sakes don't take everything too seriously.

We are trying to get organized, and we went to our Insurance Agent to set up automatic payments on our car and house insurance. We had changed to this Agency after our old agent whom we had been with for years died, and his wife took over, and then she decided to give up the agency, and since it was on the island that we used to live on, we changed to the one nearest our home. We had not met the Agent, and so going to set up payments allowed us to meet the nice man. He was by himself, and the women who take care of all such things were not there, he told us, but that he could take care of the change. When we left, we drove up the street about seven blocks to the first stop sign, and then several more to the second stop sign, maybe all of 5 minutes had transpired. As my husband started to go into the intersection and turn left, I yelled stop! I saw a car coming at a good clip, and thought we might collide. Husband does not usually go out in this set of circumstances, he waits, but this time I yelled. As we finally made the turn, he said, 'good heavens, I thought you saw something I didn't, like something crawling out onto the street or something. Like a baby or small person.' And I replied, 'no, no, no, just couldn't believe you were going to try and beat that fast car.'

Well, after that, we started to build a scenario of having to call the Agent we had just met, five minutes after leaving him and telling him that he should come take care of our claim as we had been hit and were lying bleeding on the street and the other car had travelled across a lawn and up onto a porch, and we thought a claim was in the works, but maybe he could get there before the ambulance came to pick us up off the street. Just hurry things along, you know. Sort of a British comedy scenario with the accents and all.

So this is not AAADD, but sort of OIKT or Old Idiots Killing Time. It is best to have a sense of humor about things. And acronyms are so fun, and sometimes they even form a real word. Like OINK-T: Old Idiots Not Killing- Time. I imagine I will now get worked up over creating acronyms.

The rain today was massive and we could hear it on our roof which is composition and not metal, but sounded like it was. I expected to see the old stream that used to run down the property line when we first moved to this place to reappear. It was damp, but no flood. Nice living on a bit of a hill and a huge bay almost in your front yard. There is room for all that water! So we took a nap! It was dark enough to do that, and it felt very good.

So aging can feel quite serious to those of us who have arrived at an age we consider at the top of the hill, looking down. We do have issues, and if we have all our brain cells working, we still need to pay attention. You have to make an effort to realize what is going on around you, and who is around you, and what you are doing to that which is around you. It takes more effort than you would think, this paying attention. So you become a team. And then that doesn't always work if one of you falls asleep on a lengthy drive. Oh, bother, just make sure you pay attention.

I am amazed at how long a lot of people live what with all the things going on around your own place, and your city,and your world. They paid attention. I read the obituaries, and they are really interesting. There are some amazing people who have passed on. And their nice families have shared how they lived their lives with all of us out here reading the Obits. There are sad ones, died suddenly, fought a valiant battle with cancer, or some other disease. Some didn't wake up, and some were in accidents, and the little ones you really don't know what takes them. I had to make up an Obit for my Mother, with help from the family, and discovered no one knew her real first name. I guess she didn't like it. I did an Obit for my oldest daughter who died suddenly in a truck rollover. But so much led up to that ending, and I wanted to convey that maybe she was now at peace, which can probably make some people angry as it really is a cop out. But she knew she did not have long to live as her liver was failing her. She just wanted to go to Maui, lay on the sand in the sun one last time, and she did not make it. We talked the week before she died, and she seemed at peace with her self, and a little weary of my platitudes, but we did get to tell each other we loved each other, and that gives me peace. I do love her and miss her, and think of her often in different places that bring up memories, and I can remember that she was the one who I practiced on as she was my first born. The other two got to benefit from that practice, but my daughter left us with something to remember. She was unique.