Like most families,, I suspect, we have our own little phrases and sayings which have become so much part of our family vocabulary that we no longer notice we’re using them. For example, ‘sibdubs’ – bark chippings for the garden, is still used by us especially when we go to garden centres, however we rarely use ‘sentens’ – elephant now. Sometimes we allude to characters, real or fictional and maybe the one we refer to most (maybe because of our own traits, or maybe ssshhh! – our age!) is Old Forgetful Jones. I’ve mentioned many times that I am chronically absent-minded and forgetful, but now other members (or should I say ‘member’) of the family is also not without blame! A constant cry on our house is ‘Where’s the so-and-so?’ or ‘Where did you put/leave the such-and-such?’ Fortunately it’s not us losing our memory/minds or drifting into senility, it’s because we have a resident boggart in our house who tries to be helpful by ‘putting things away’ and ‘tidying up’ in unexpected ways.
When something has slipped off the memory shelf, we quite often to Old Forgetful Jones, a character in The Muppets. If you can’t remember/never watched the children’s TV show, Old Forgetful was a cowboy who first appeared in season 12 and continued for ten more. His character is defined by his name – he was old and he was forgetful, even of the most ordinary things. There’s a Muppet Wiki fan-site, and this is what they say about Old Forgetful: “as his name indicates, his defining trait is a severe short term memory problem, unable to remember instructions, what he was going to do, how to perform basic functions, the names of most of those he encounters, and sometimes even his own identity.”
If we forget to put the empty milk bottles out for the milkman to collect, or to take the shopping list or bags with us when we go out, or have to rush somewhere because we forgot it was Wednesday we were meeting someone and had thought it Thursday (or vice versa) then it’s Old Forgetful Jones who is the problem – being absent-minded, distracted, forgetful – yes, forgetful! I’ve always had this sort of memory problem – ask me the names of the children I was in class with in the infants and I’ll give you a list, ask who a distant ancestor married or where she was born and bam! I’m there but ask me where I should be right now, or where I should have been an hour ago… oh heck! Panic! I forgot!
I do try my best, I note things on my phone, I write things on the calendar, I ask people to re,ind me, but still things sometimes go awry. It’s not just appointments , it could be packing underwear when we go away, or the name of the place we’re meeting, or even why we’re meeting. I’ve always been like this, and I struggle against it. The best I can do is to do my best… now what am I doing tomorrow? Meeting my freind Judith… and… dentist? Maybe, I must check!
Lois Elsden 