When the Memories Became Like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Forgetting, a part of, the normal aging process, is it now???  Translated…

Seemed, that since we got the elderly card, both my wife’s and my memories of names, seemed to be like the jigsaw puzzles, that we’d had to, piece together, one by one, and sometimes, it was a two-person job to get it done.

A few days ago, I was standing in line early in the morn at the super convenience store to pay, found that a former coworker who had yet to retire, in the line.

I’d wrecked my brains for her name, in case, when we came face to face, and I can’t, note her by her name, how awkward that must be.

Yep, I’d recalled there was a “Ling” in her name, but, what was, her, last, name???  I can’t call her, Ms. Ling now, can I.  Seeing how it came my time to get checked out, she, who was waiting for her coffee, so near, I still can’t recall her last name, my temperature started, rising, up.

Thankfully, as I’d paid and got out of the shop, she’d not, made me.  Exiting the store, climbed down the steps to the MRT stations, suddenly, her last name came to me.  As I’d waited for the trains, her full name came back to me too, like, it was without, any, hard work.  But, a few short minutes ago, no matter how hard I’d, wrecked my brains, I can’t, recall her name no matter how hard I’d, tried.

This putting people’s names together, was most prevalent when we were watching T.V., oftentimes, as we inquired about the stars’ names, the names that’d become too familiar would get stuck in our throats, “ahhhhhhhhhhh~~~”, a long time, and, we can’t state the name, especially for the Japanese actors and actresses.

illustration from UDN.com

My wife was right.  “We can’t even remember the three-character names, let alone the full names with four, even five characters!”

Recently, there’s the rerun of the soap, “Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace”, as my wife saw the preview, she’d asked me, “What’s the first name of the male character, Something Huo?”, I’d scratched my head, “Wally Huo!” she’d then corrected me, “no, it’s Wallace Huo!”

Like piecing together the jigsaw, we were feeling amazing of our selves, laughed, she’d started getting troubled again, “His wife was, Cyndi Wang, right?  Can’t remember it a few moments ago!”

I’d gotten all high up and mighty, and corrected her, “No, his wife is Ruby Wang!  You also, have a, fish, brain too!”

Then, in the end, my gloating did not last long enough, within a minute’s time, she’d called out, to check my mate, “No, it’s NOT Ruby Wang, but Ruby LIN!”

Seemed, that the competitions of puzzling with our memories, it’s a tie for the day.

In the end, we’d, used the following story, to make ourselves feel better.

Two aging couples met for the meals, after they ate, the wives were in the kitchen, doing the dishes, with the homeowner telling the friend, that he’d gone to a good restaurant to dine with his wife the day before, the guest started asking which restaurant it was.  The man thought hard, “the restaurant’s name was a flower, a lot of it are sold on Valentine’s Day, the flower had a ton of, thorns……….”, the guest was ecstatic blurted out, “Rose!”, and at this time, the man turned to his wife, asked, “Hey Rose, what was that restaurant we ate at last night?”

like this, our memories, eventually, became…pieces that will go missing from time to time…photo from online

Thinking about this joke, my wife and I laughed, dryly, and we can’t help but prayed: it is okay that we can’t remember the names of the T.V. stars, the movie stars, just don’t let us forget, each other’s, names, and had to, mix and, match like so.

And so, this is how memories are, fading, and there’s nothing we can do about it, because, as we age, our brains would slow down, and we don’t think as fast as we’re once, used to, especially after the retirement, we’d stopped, interacting with those people that required us to use our brains for, and we don’t work anymore, which also, added to the deteriorations of our, minds, and, staying active, take the new routes to and from places, try the new things, is a way, to liven up all our brains, to keep our brains from, deteriorating, away.