I Must Remember This...

Arugh, I forgot.  How could I forget that thing, whatever it was.  It was funny, it was timely, it was a stuck in my mind.  It's only been an hour later and now I have not a clue what it was. 

I was going to email myself so I wouldn't forget this important, whatever-it-was thing I was so enthusiastic about.  How does this always happen to me?

Do our brains work certain ways because we've trained them to do so?  If we deviate outside of those ways, are we lost and destined to fail because we never strengthened those brain "muscles?"  I have wondered that so many times.

If I need to remember something, I write it down.  The up-side is I have a complete list when I need it of all the things I wanted to remember or do.  The downside is I have to write it down.  I am amazed that some people just remember things.  My husband will remember the strangest thing that isn't on the grocery list, my builder remembered where every outlet and switch was in our house and had a mental map of the seventeen things that needed to be corrected on the punch-list/  He would walk in a room and remember the items for that room.  A friend would put his keys in the most bizarre place when visiting, like on top of a bookshelf (he was tall) and would unfailingly go straight to them when it was time to go.

I don't work that way.  I have to have all my things in my purse, because if I spread out, I'm very likely to forget something.  So, have I done myself a disservice by not expecting my brain to remember things?  Have I handicapped my ability to remember?

I tried the other night to use a trick many people use.  It was the middle of the night, I had a blog entry I wanted to write about.  I didn't feel like writing it down (or sending myself a quick note on my phone) so I envisioned something crazy that would help trigger my great idea later.  I thought of bowls, lots of bowls, going down the stairs and heading over to my desk, ending in front of my keyboard.   Clearly, this strange image would help me remember my idea the next morning. 

Nope.  Not a clue.  I have a clear memory of the bowls (this was almost two weeks ago) and not a smidgen of an idea what the thought was about.  I have decided I'm highly functional in a dysfunctional way/  Remember that bit about being rationalizing beings? 

The Big Boy Update:  Phone calls and brooms.  He has hit the age of imitation.  He wants to sweep, mop, dust, clean with a cloth, vacuum and put things away.  Yesterday, he got two different toy phones and walked around with them talking into them.  One was a flip phone.  We don't even have flip phones, but he knew somehow it was a phone.  We pretend called him and talked to him.  He also got out the towel for bath time, and the put it back in the closet, and then got it out, and then put it back.  We didn't show him any of these things, he has just figured them out himself.  Now if only he could say mama and daddy...

The Tiny Girl Update:  Arms out for balance.  She likes to hold her arms back to balance.  She pulls them forward to grasp at things, but when you hold her, she's in airplane mode.  I hope she doesn't think we're going to drop her.