Me Lose Brain? Uh oh!

Mrs. Smoot and I have been talking about how we both have been losing our minds lately. In my case, I have precious little remaining sanity in the first place, so any degradation of my brain is even more detrimental than it would be for most people.

I have noticed this problem over the past few years, and it certainly isn’t getting any better. At home I’ll go downstairs with a single purpose in mind. I’ll wander around the basement aimlessly for a bit, and maybe do something while I’m down there, and I’ll come upstairs and realize that I completely forgot to do whatever it was I had intended to do in the first place.

On the plus side, this helps me get some much-needed exercise, what with all of the extra trips I’ve been making up and down the steps all day. I’m thinking about attaching Post-It notes to my forehead before I head off to do a task, but I keep forgetting to buy Post-It notes.

I hate to think this means I’m getting old. I turned 40 this year, and I really don’t think that this qualifies me as being “old” by any means. But I did have a rather disturbing encounter this weekend that is making me reevaluate the current state of my elderlyness.

We were visiting some relatives out of town, and we stayed at a hotel. When I checked in, the woman behind the counter asked me if I “had any AAA or AARP discounts.” AARP!?! Oh, man. I wasn’t ready for that one. It's not like I drove really slowly into their parking lot with my left turn signal stuck on, while wearing a furry hat.

When she said that, I didn’t even know how to respond. Being a smart alec, you’d think I could have come up with something clever to say. Or maybe I should have just punched her in the head or something. But instead, like most of my elderly kinfolk, I just stood there with a vacant look on my face.