Some people can remember proper names better than I can today. I spent a morning at a Memorial Lecture with the tip of my tongue humming with no name resulting a roll off the tip. Smiling and greeting everyone helps; listening carefully to what names others use is extremely effective; paying attention when people around you are being introduced also works to take the masks off. I'm not sure my forgetting names is terribly relevant because I may never see any of them again yet at one time in my life we had a great deal of contact and their names seemed that they would be familiar to me forever. Age makes one fickle as so much of the tide of life crashes over us and draws the remote past away in the undertow..
The only part that bothers me is that some people whom I have not seen for years recognize me immediately. I used to wear my hair in a bun on the top of my head for many years and people used to say they had no difficulty recognizing me from it. Recently I had gotten lazy about my hair in the 'professional look' and have just been wearing my long, white, thinning hair in a pony tail. It was startling to realize that people recognized me anyway. I would not make a good spy since I don't do anonymous or fading into the woodwork well. Neither enfold me.
Many people commented that I haven't changed over the years. How can I flatter them back when they have changed almost unrecognizably. I mostly thanked them and changed the subject. Most of the people there, whom I had known, are 20 to 25 years my junior. They are talking retirement already. At least it is something we have in common since I plan to retire later this year. I really think most of them thought I had retired years ago. Those who didn't were, I'm sure, wondering why I want to do it now. They hoped I would 'enjoy life' was their most frequent comment Since I always enjoy myself and am never bored, I could only hope the same for them when they get there, too. I'm sure they will be much younger and physically far more fit than I when it Remembering people and their names.happens to some more than others of us..
The only part that bothers me is that some people whom I have not seen for years recognize me immediately. I used to wear my hair in a bun on the top of my head for many years and people used to say they had no difficulty recognizing me from it. Recently I had gotten lazy about my hair in the 'professional look' and have just been wearing my long, white, thinning hair in a pony tail. It was startling to realize that people recognized me anyway. I would not make a good spy since I don't do anonymous or fading into the woodwork well. Neither enfold me.
Many people commented that I haven't changed over the years. How can I flatter them back when they have changed almost unrecognizably. I mostly thanked them and changed the subject. Most of the people there, whom I had known, are 20 to 25 years my junior. They are talking retirement already. At least it is something we have in common since I plan to retire later this year. I really think most of them thought I had retired years ago. Those who didn't were, I'm sure, wondering why I want to do it now. They hoped I would 'enjoy life' was their most frequent comment Since I always enjoy myself and am never bored, I could only hope the same for them when they get there, too. I'm sure they will be much younger and physically far more fit than I when it Remembering people and their names.happens to some more than others of us..
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