I think our short-term memory gets "worse" because at our age we have such a rich stream of interesting thoughts running through our head. If we had fewer such fascinating thoughts, like those unfortunate younger people, we could "hold" a thought longer in the stream.

Also, on forgetting where the keys are. This is why we should train ourselves to have certain rigid habits concerning boring rote activities. ALWAYS put your keys in a certain place. ALWAYS put your cell phone ditto, your purse, etc., etc. See my comment above about more interesting thoughts distracting us.

Here's my latest heart stopping freakout story:

We're snow birding in Florida right now. Every morning we drive to a beach or park for a long walk.

I always wear a bum bag around my waist or over my shoulder. Feels secure and safe.

Couple days ago, we arrived at the park... a few cars already there.

It's a little chilly in the morning, so I put on a sweatshirt once we got out of the car.

Then we stared walking.

About twenty minutes into the walk, we stopped to gaze at a gator sunning itself across a wide lagoon.

I went to get my camera from my bum bag..

"OH NO."

"IT'S GONE."

My DH always remains calm in these freakout moments.

"Well, it can't be lost. Let's go back to the car."

"I know I left it on the trunk of the car when I put on the sweater," I yelled.

"I have to go back to the car. It's on the trunk."

"Someone probably picked it up by now."

Running as fast as my 68 year old legs could go, I jogged. Puffing hard, heart on fire, panic stricken.

Every piece of ID in my wallet, my camera, all in the bum bag.

Got to our car. Now a service van was parked beside it.

No bag on trunk.

I knocked on the van wall.

The driver saw my panic and opened the window a crack.

"Did you see a purse on this car beside yours?"

I was about to have a seizure.

"No, lady, I did not see anything on your car."

"Oh my God. My purse is gone."

But wait.

Something told me to look inside the car.

My bag was there, right where I left it when I put on the sweater.

And I did not recall leaving it there.

That's the scary part.

Went back to the van man.

"I found my purse."

"We're from Canada. Losing my bag would have been a big problem."

The man looked as relieved as I was.

Meanwhile, my DH calmly strolled up, hugged me, and for the millionth time we vowed to:

Always do a little security check before leaving house, car, etc.

"Purses ahoy?"

"Roger that."

I consider it all part of the adventure of old age which why I own multiples of essentials like hair brushes, scissors, keys and other necessities stashed in various places around my apartment.

That said. since my last cataract surgery, I don't need to wear glasses anymore except for reading (and I have the font on my computer set large enough that I don't need them here) and sometimes I lose track of my best readers. I'm finally starting to learn to reach on top of my head where I often stash them. I laugh at myself a lot these days.

I'm fortunate now that I live with my daughter and family and have a 9 year old "eagle-eyed" grandson who is exceptional at finding everything I misplace. But a decade ago I left my purse in a grocery shopping cart after I returned the cart to the outdoor storage slip. After I got home and unpacked my groceries, I realized that I didn't have my purse. I drove back to the store parking lot in hopes that my purse was still in the cart, but no luck. Later that day I got a phone call from an elder couple who went through the trouble of taking my purse home with them and tracking me down via the info in my wallet so that they could return it to me. I drove to their little house on the other side of town to retrieve my purse. I wanted to give them a reward, but they wouldn't take it. On the way home, I cried from sheer relief, and also with deep appreciation for the honesty of these strangers.

"Set the timer," Has become my mantra these days. I lost my short term memory via a stroke in 1989, and ever since life has been interesting. Lately, I've taken over doing the laundry in our three story tall condo. I put the laundry in the dryer, start another load, and say over and over again as I climb up to the top story, "Set the timer, set the timer...." Despite that mantra, I have been known to forget to set it and find the stuff in the dryer a half wrinkled mess when I get back down there. I'm learning to laugh at myself.

Forever chanting pocket or purse for my phone, keys, and asthma nebulizer. Unfortunately I don't always recall which pockets, and I lose the purse in the house. Been trying out new spots for the purse, not going well. And the other day I had to cancel a credit card that I thought I'd lost. It turned up in the washer, out of a pocket I'd put it in.

The upside is some or another of my grandgirls are frequent visitors and like Elaine's grandson are great at finding stuff, any stuff, anywhere in the house.

We are not alone. A couple of years ago, I returned from a holiday shopping foray to discover my VISA card was missing. I desperately hurried back to places I'd visited that day. At a department store, a clerk found my card stored in their safe. Red-faced, I made humble comments about how stupid I was to leave the card. The clerk said it wasn't unusual at all--there were 30 other cards in the safe with mine waiting for some slack time when store employees could track down the owners.

When I was in my early 30s I was a sous chef at a ski lodge. Often I opened the walk-in door to find someone standing still in the middle of the cooler with no idea why he or she was there. And they were 20-somethings.

The other night I went to a spinning class at my gym. When I got there, the notice board said the class had been canceled. Oh well, I thought, I can still work out. But I'd forgotten to put my workout clothes in my bag. All I had were a sports bra and my shoes & socks.

If I ever get out the door to my car to go to work without having to go back inside, or drive around the block and go back to get something forgotten, it's a miracle.

I was going to write something here but forgot what it was.

However, I did once watch my mother pour a pot of just made coffee down the sink.

A few months ago, I broke one of my own rules, which is when a pan is on the stove, stay by the stove!

On this occasion, I had placed a pan of oatmeal on a burner, turned it on high, then promptly went to another room and got involved with something on my computer.

A certain odor caught my attention. I raced to the kitchen in time to see smoke rising from the pan.

Big lesson learned ... certain rules are not made to be broken. Stay by the stove!

By the way, initially I thought that pan was a goner, but after quite a bit of effort, I was able to get it clean. The burn odor remained in the stove area for a while, as a smelly reminder.

After we returned from the cruise, my husband hid his camera so that I wouldn't be able to download HIS pics. You guessed it. He can't remember where he hid it.

I don't know if it's is age or memory-related, but being easily distracted is a problem, one that has vexed me on more than one occasion, the latest just a few weeks ago:

Recently I wanted to prepare a batch of my favorite chili recipe, and while assembling the necessary utensils and ingredients on the kitchen counter, I found I had everything but one item ... onion. No problem, I live across the street from a supermarket, so slipped on my jacket and ran over there. I usually shop from a list, but this was just one small item, so why bother, right? Right. But when I entered the produce department I immediately noted they were having a sale on asparagus, which I love. But my favorite way of preparing it calls for blue cheese crumbles, so that required a trip to the dairy section, where I recalled I was getting low on milk, so this would be a good time to pick up a half-gallon. Dairy is right next to the baked goods section, where they were having Italian bread (another favorite) at a discount, so a good time to buy. And so on, until I reached the checkout with a full sack of groceries. When I arrived home I headed straight to the kitchen to put away my purchases, only to be greeted by all the chili fixings on the counter ... except one.

to Mia:
try this site
http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/p/topic-test-your-memory-for-alzheimers.html

There are so many tales, I hardly know where to start. The affliction is not entirely new as my young 4-5 year old son used to find my glasses for me almost 50 years ago. But it has become worse - much worse.

The most recent incident was the case of the lost catalog. I'm in the [thinking] process of getting my affairs more organized so my sons will be able to find things easily when the time comes. I found an item in a catalog that I thought would be perfect for collecting and storing important papers. This was just before Christmas and I put it aside thinking I would take care of it after the holidays.

After the holidays had come and gone, I started looking for the catalog, but couldn't find it anywhere and finally decided I had thrown it away inadvertently. Resigned, I started looking for the item online.

Then, lo and behold, I found the catalog (in the bathroom). Joy, oh joy. I immediately took it and put it in the seat of my desk chair so I could place the order later in the day. But when later in the day came, the catalog was not where I had left it. (I live alone, so no one to blame but myself). I looked everywhere - again - retraced steps several times etc, etc., etc.
It was no where.

I found it later, but have no recollection at all of putting it where I found it. And to top it all off, the wonderful item, upon closer reading, was way too large to fit in my filing cabinet.

Echoing down the years, I can still hear my Mother: "Patty, you'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on". It's been downhill from there. The most annoying thing for me about losing short term memory is forgetting names.

I'm having a hard time remembering what I ate yesterday thus, I'm sure there's a whole lot of other things...I can't remember...

Wanted to say hello and tell you I often think about my wonderful blogging freinds which then makes me want to blog again...however,just can't seem to motivate myself.. hope all is well..

Dorothy formerly from grammology

What I can count on remembering: why I'm in the bathroom.

The jokes on me. Yesterday I wrote a long comment on forgetting words and apparently previewed it and forgot to post it.

Tarzana, that was hilarious.