PHOTO PROMPT © Amy Reese
Senility or Alzheimer’s aren’t necessarily the only causes of memory loss. Lots of times it’s just data overload. Young folks have few memories, and they find them easy to access. Old people have been piling up a lifeful of memories of successes, failures, and regrets, for years.
It’s like going to your Grandmother’s house, and climbing up to the attic. There are lots of interesting things up there, but there are also things like dust and spider webs. It gets more and more overgrown, and less and less fun.
After a while, it just doesn’t seem worth the climb anymore.
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Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story
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Click on the title to enjoy(?) the Rolling Stones’ ‘Mother’s Little Helpers.’
I love this, Archon. I believe it to be true – well I don’t know how much NOT fun, but then, I don’t think I’m *that* old yet! 😉
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A woman is as old as she looks. A man is old when he forgets to look. 😉 😯
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Ha ha!
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I’m going to have one of those super-fast stair lifts fitted – gets you to the top of the stairs before you forget what you’ve gone up for!
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Are they expensive? I go downstairs to the storeroom to get stuff. I remember that I needed three items, and here I am at the bottom of the stairs with only two in my hands. I’d have taken down the list, if I’d remembered it. 😳
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Coincidentally I was just reading an article on some research into this, which basically said the same thing (plus some sciency stuff). I love the way you put it across, with the Grandmother’s attic.
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A Canadian singer has a song about, “If you could read my mind.” Around me, the second line is, “You’d run screaming from the room.” 😆
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Very true. Those who remember everything can’t have had a very exciting life, right? At least that’s what I’m telling myself when I remember… (Actually, sometimes I find the pile of rubble collapses and brings memories to the surface I’ve forgotten/suppressed for decades–and here they are, ready to be explored and interpreted from a completely different angle.)
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I understand the collapsing rubble-pile reference. I take advantage of it to occasionally write a ‘Remember When’ blog post. Might as well get some benefit from it. 😛
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I’d agree, if I could remember anything. 😉
Great story. Come see mine here.
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Didn’t I already read yours??! I can’t remember, because you’ve forgotten to put a ‘like’ button in. 😉
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Dear Archon,
I was going to leave a comment but I forgot what I was going to say.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Do I know you?? Did we go to Separate Schools together?? 😆
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Memory is indeed an interesting subject. One podcast I listen to regularly is Stuff You Should Know from NPR. Two guys bone up on a subject and then discuss it. Fascinating. Even at my advanced age I do learn stuff. Some of it sticks and some doesn’t. It sticks better if I then tell others about what I learned, which just proved the adage that if you don’t use it, you lose it. The two guys on the show even discussed this once and admitted they don’t recall everything from their hundreds of discussions. The human hard-drive is a renewable resource. Isn’t it amazing?
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The claim used to be that we only use 10% of our brain. It’s been proved that we ‘use’ all of it, but there are ways to make the usage more effective….I don’t remember what they are – but 😉 😯
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Wonderful story. I really like the way you have described data overload! 🙂
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As part of the ‘Older Generation’ I took one look at that overgrown stairway, and inspiration struck. At least I think it was inspiration….might have been indigestion. 😉 😯
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I’ve read the same thing. It would make me feel better if I hadn’t had a memory like that for about sixty years or more. We the absent-minded salute you. Well done, Archon. 😀 — Suzanne
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I’m like you. I’ve been absent-minded since I was a kid. It’s a wonder I’ve accomplished what little I have. The sharp-as-a-tack, memory-vault wife is now retired with a list of 8 daily medications, and is discovering what I’ve been like for years. We have write-a-reminder-note competitions, which neither of us win. 😛
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