“Is It Random Forgetfulness, or Is It The Beginning Of …?”

In the last couple of weeks, our “elder” has recited a couple of instances where he’s gotten “lost.” He’s made his way home, without any outward signs of distress or long lasting ill effects. It does make me wonder whether or not he was “lost,” or suffered a momentary random lapse of memory. We all do this, though with my Dad, who tends to be somewhat dramatic, anything that happens is never his fault, so in both cases, it wasn’t his fault, rather, “someone” had moved the street signs on him.

I look at it this way; he has been a SoCal resident for some 60+ years, granted not all in the Inland Empire locale, but he’s been in that area off and on for the length of time that I’ve lived in the IE and that’s been at least 30 years, so how come, all of a sudden, he forgot where Euclid Ave. was? He says “they moved the street signs on me,” and that’s all well and good, but landmarks should have told you where you were, so this has us more than a little concerned and worried.

I have to constantly remind myself, and he won’t admit it, he is going to be 93 years old in a few months, and there’s going to be a certain amount of things forgotten, or lost from his memory. Call it what you will. I’ve gently tried to remind my daughter, and drive home this fact; if he calls on his cell phone and can’t find his way home, then we have a big problem and one we will not be able to ignore.

Have you had to cope with sudden, random forgetfulness, and if so, how did/do you handle it?