True confession: I’m 45. That’s NOT old – really, stop laughing please.
Truer confession: As Robin warned me, my brain has lost all capacity to remember proper nouns. You know, names of people, places, movies, song etc etc. Numbers? No problemo. Proved it last night while in a debate with a friend on the phone over another mutual friend’s birthday. She looked it up – I was right. Details of a sequence of events? I got that covered too. However, the NAMES of the people involved? Oh, well..that would be X and Y right?
Truer-er confession: I gave my mom holy hell for YEARS over this same dilemma when it hit her (which, unfortunately for her given her own age when I was born was pretty much my entire childhood). Of course, she made it a lot easier to tease by inserting the word “goo-goo” for when she couldn’t retrieve a name. I wont be repeating that mistake 🙂
Now, I am not talking about flipping names. Just about every parent I know regardless of age who has more than one child, or, perhaps, a pet or two in the house has issues with assigning the correct name to the correct child/spouse/pet. That’s just part of living way too hectic lives trying to keep up with everyone and their schedules.
I’m talking about flat out NOT being able to pull up the Name identifier from your memory banks. It’s so bad that it transferred into my dreams last night! Seriously – I dreamt that in order to get into some place where I was supposed to be volunteering that I had to give a code word. And the word was the name of a baseball team. Which, in the dream, I could NOT remember and they would NOT let me in!! it was horrid. Then my alarm went off, and I kid you not that after I rolled over to turn it off and then turn on the TV as I always do to help me wake up slowly, the shadow of the dream was still on my mind and I was *still* trying to remember that damn team name! And I could NOT! Dreaming or awake…the memory closet was CLOSED. Ten minutes later it did pop into my brain, but hey, too late! And way to start off the day feeling utterly stupid.
So how does one exercise the brain to get back that part of ones memory? Remember this isn’t trying to remember NEW names of people you meet (I’ve always stunk at that one!!), but old ones. Proper names of anything. WHY does that vanish and can you get it back?
Or will I have to resort to some cutesy filler name? And if so, what should that be because no, I am not going to use “goo-goo”?!!
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
I’m 59 and have had that problem for years. I have always been known for my memory…it has made it possible for me to overcome some of my worst ADD moments. But now? I make up words when I can’t remember the word I’m looking for…
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I think that’s what bugs me most – I was *known* for my memory. I could conjure up names like mad. Situationally I still can, but these simple things irritate the hell out of me!
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I have this problem too. I’ve had to say things like “don’t forget to wipe your feet on the… you know, that thing lying in front of the door.”
The children’s name thing is funny though. I grew up being called Andrison, and my brother was Alindrew. And my mother-in-law calls my husband Stella (the dog’s name).
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LOL – Yes, I was Alachristina for many years! And I’m an only child 😉
My biggest issue is with Alex & Amber. Same first letter sound – should not have done that!
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Only proper nouns? You’re doing good. 😀 It’s when the other nouns start to go that you should worry. And then the verbs begin to slip away…
“Thingie” and “whosit” work for me. Or long descriptions of the name of the person or thing I’m trying to come up with.
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I was telling someone the other day that I’d re-read Wuthering Heights. He asked who wrote it. I blanked. Of course, I *could* remember that her sister wrote Jane Eyre! So ridiculous what stays & goes. I did NOT need you warning me about all the nouns & verbs. thanks a lot. now I’m *really* depressed!!
🙂
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