My wife serves as an important extension of my brain. Not only does she keep track of everything she has to do everyday, she also keeps track of mine. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. As a matter of fact, if you opened the shed right now, you'd see a variety of items. A shiny new lawnmower (not me), maybe a fantastic spade shovel (still not me), or a splendid ax used for chopping wood (strike three). Nope, I would be the rusted, three-pronged hand cultivator that everyone has but no one uses. My memory is about that useful.
This seems like a good time to share this gem of a story. Before the two of us head out one night, it's time to grab the Big Four (phone, wallet, keys, knife). Knife...check. Keys...check. Phone...check. Wallet...where the heck is it? We start the search. She asks the typical, "Where did you have it last?" If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn't be looking. "Not sure," I respond. We look everywhere you're supposed to for a wallet - tables, drawers, bags, counters, etc. It's nowhere. A solid ten minutes pass when I hear from afar, "Found it!" I turn the corner to see my wife pulling the wallet out of the freezer. Obviously, the second most popular place where lost wallets are found.
The good news is, I've become accustomed to this memory-less lifestyle. I'm used to running into the kitchen to tell my wife great news, only to completely forget what I was going to say. You may even find me retracing my steps to the original point of thought inspiration so I can look for whatever environmental triggers worked the first time. Needless to say, a sharp memory is not my gift. And we all have to adapt to our own world.
My wife has used her great memory on many occasions to save me. "Remember you have to call the doctor," she'd say. Or, "You left your swim trunks on the patio." These simple yet direct statements have given my brain such sweet relief over the past years, I don't know how to effectively thank her. My past is loaded with so many holes, unknowns, and rabbit trails to nowhere, that it's a sweet victory when I can finish whatever business I originally started without forgetting.
Marriage made life easier in this sense. My wife has been there to pick up my memory slack.
Then, it hit.
Only a couple months into the pregnancy, we collectively diagnosed my wife with pregnant brain. It's easy to see the frustration all through her. It starts with her asking in a demanding tone, "Where did I put the hospital bills!?" Like I'm gonna know where the hospital bills are. Check the freezer. She proceeds to look for whatever is lost in calm manner that quickly accelerates until she gives up and collapses on the couch. "Where did they go?" she whimpers.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD!!
Of course I don't say that. I only think that. For a while during the first signs of pregnant brain I was excited that she now has the chance to view the world from the same memory loss window as I do everyday.
Now I've realized that it only makes two people who have no idea where the keys are instead of one.
No comments:
Post a Comment