I was on the phone with my friend Debbie the other day having a good catch-up chat. She’d been traveling to see her daughter and family and we’d missed each other’s call several times, so I was happy when we finally connected.
I had not charged my AirPods after my last marathon phone
conversation, so I had to do the old-fashioned thing and hold the phone up to
my one good ear. This was no problem when I was sitting in my living room, but
not so great when Maggie Minx insisted on a late afternoon walk. (She does not
like it when I’m on the phone and whines constantly for some attention.)
Being the super-human that I am, I managed to hook Maggie to
the leash, put a bag in my pocket, pull my hair up in a ponytail (since it was
hot out), switch to my sunglasses and pop on my shoes without missing a beat during
the conversation.
It became a little trickier when Maggie decided that this
was an unregularly-scheduled “poo walk” and I had to collect her, uh, deposit – all without dropping the leash, the phone or the poo bag.
Debbie offered to hang up, but we were in the middle of solving
the world’s problems, so I wanted to continue.
I got home, unclipped Maggie, replaced my sunglasses with regular
glasses, took off my shoes and then sat down with a sigh. And then I did
something that I never thought I’d do.
I started looking for my phone.
While I was on my phone!
I even went so far as to get my Apple Watch off the charger to
do the “Find My Phone” thing, which will make the phone chime so it can be
located.
I don’t know if that actually works because once I pushed
the button on the watch, I realized that I was holding my phone.
I literally felt my face turn red in embarrassment. That
hasn’t happened to me in a long time. And I didn’t tell Debbie what I’d just done
because, well, I didn’t want her to laugh at me.
(So, naturally, I had to blog about it so lots of people could laugh at me…!) What can I say? I’m a conundrum.
But, seriously. I’d heard of people doing this and would
shake my head in wonder. How in the world could someone be so clueless??
Well, friends, I’m here to tell you – it’s entirely possible
to be so clueless!
I think the problem was that I’m usually talking on the
phone using my AirPods, so my phone is not physically tethered to me, but is in
the charging stand next to me. And when I didn’t see it there, I started
looking for it.
Either way, it was definitely a Senior Moment.
So I started wondering what other Senior Moments I’ve had
lately.
Well, let’s see.
There was the time several weeks ago at the grocery store. I
had my list, my purse and my keys in hand. I even remembered to put a couple
reusable totes in my car ahead of time so I would be all set once I got to the
store since that particular establishment no longer offers “paper or plastic”
options.
As I strolled the aisles, I realized I was having trouble
seeing clearly. I thought back to the last time I’d had an eye doctor appointment
and it occurred to me that I was definitely overdue for another one.
But it was still concerning since my vision shouldn’t have changed that much in the last year and change.
When I got home, I sat down at my computer to look up my eye
doctor’s phone number…and then it hit me. I’d been wearing my computer glasses
instead of my regular glasses! They are half the strength of regular glasses –
so no wonder things were fuzzy.
Computer glasses, by the way, are a godsend if you have bad
vision. My coke bottle nearsightedness has always been a little hard to correct
and I’m not one of those people who can “get by” without some sort of
corrective lenses (either glasses or contacts).
But a few years ago when I took a seasonal job that was
basically sitting at a computer for eight hours a day responding to emails, I
struggled to see the words on the screen. I’d go home every night with blurry
vision and a headache. I told my eye doctor about it at my next appointment and
he suggested an easy fix and prescribed computer glasses for me.
I was a bit skeptical and figured it was one more way for
them to make money off me, but I went ahead and ordered them anyway. And, boy, have
they been a godsend. No more eye strain. No more headaches.
Not so good, on the other hand, when I’m trying to see at a
distance farther than a couple of feet.
I’ve since gotten in the habit of feeling the shape of the
glasses on my face, which are rather distinctive and different than my long-distance
vision glasses. Then I know if I’m wearing the correct glasses.
Oh, sure, I could just take off the glasses and look at them. Or perhaps
I could simply look at either the computer screen or out at the ducks in the
pond outside my window to see which is clearer, but hey, my method has been
working for me so I’m not going to mess with success.
I think we just have to keep trying as we get older. Adapt
and overcome – right?
I will say just one more thing that concerns me. At my last
doctor’s visit, she said that my next one would be a little different since I
will be over 65 and on Medicare. This is the annual Wellness Visit where they
do the memory thing, I guess. So they will tell me the three words that I have
to remember and repeat back to them after some conversation – right?
Well, heck. I sometimes have a hard time remembering someone’s name the second after I’m introduced. If I purposely attempt to remember someone’s name after meeting them, I seem a little “off” during whatever initial conversation we have because I’m so busy trying to remember their name that I’m not paying attention to the words coming out of their mouth.
Instead, in my head I’m just repeating, “Helen & Bob, Helen
& Bob, Helen & Bob” over and over to try to store the names and their
faces in my short-term memory bank.
And then I can only hope that my efforts will pay off the
next time I see Helen and Bob.
I don’t know if they still do that thing during the memory
portion of the Wellness Visit where you have to draw the analog clock and “set”
the hands at a certain time. I’ve never really drawn a clock in my life – so maybe
I’d better start practicing. I don’t want any medical professionals to begin
suggesting I may need “assistance” in my daily living.
I am not ready for that. At all.
Meanwhile, have you had any “Senior Moments” lately that you
want to admit to??
