Where did I put my car keys?

(A version of this story ran April 22, 2016)

When a customer service representative asked for the best way to contact me recently, I immediately started giving her my childhood phone number. I haven’t thought about the phone number in more than 25 years. I’m not even sure it works anymore. And it came blurting out of my mouth in a rapid-fire response like I was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Like a fool, I had to quickly retrace my steps, giving the customer service representative my “updated” number. “Oh yea, I have a new cell number,” I said, failing to add that I’ve had at least two land lines and four different cell phone numbers since I regularly called that my home number.

blogging-336375_1920

The irony of the situation: I can remember a phone number to a phone that I haven’t picked-up in two decades, but I struggle to remember the 15-character work password that I created less than 24 hours ago or, even worse, where I put my car keys five minutes ago.

It doesn’t stop there.

Later the same day, I drove past the apartment where my wife and I lived when we first returned to Southeastern Pennsylvania from Northern Virginia. We called the apartment home for only a short time, but the street address and a slew of great memories, even the silly Halloween party we held each year (don’t ask), came rushing back to the present. By contrast, I cleaned out the cache to my laptop and had to re-enter a bunch of social media passwords, all created within the past six months, and I came up empty. I sat in front of the computer screen with a blank stare. I knew that I knew them, but couldn’t recall a single one.

The king of useless information

I’ve long been interested in how we process information. I have a friend who’s helping a relative struggling with Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s a horrible, horrible disease and I would never want to make light of those challenges. They are very real and I have deep empathy for anyone going through them. I’m writing today more about the everyday lapses that we all face.

Like most people, I associate meaning to information. When the text, numbers, dates, addresses or other information mean something to me, then recall is easy. When they don’t mean anything or have a connection or are temporary like the placement of my keys, then memory gets very hard.

I can blurt out my son’s Middle School locker combination with no problem. Why? He was so worried that he was going to forget it and stand out from the crowd that I worked with him over-and-over to memorize the number until he had it down pat. I’m not sure how the combination will help him now that he’s in college, but I still remember the combination if he ever needs it.

Getting  into even more trouble

The list goes on.

Despite the male stereotype, I usually have no problem remembering my wedding anniversary. I remember the date weeks in advance.

Most years, I hold out the hope that my strong memory of our anniversary will earn me points and help get me back in my wife’s good graces. I’m usually digging myself out of one challenge or another because I can never remember the phone numbers for the countless doctors, dentists, schools and any number of  offices that we have to call on a regular basis and my bad habit of pawning those jobs off to my wife gets me in trouble. “Oops, sorry honey.”

Oh the challenges of remembering everything. Of course, there could be another reason for my memory loss:  I could just be losing my mind. And yes, if you must ask, I blame it on my kids.

Where did I put my car keys again?

Discover more from Writing from the Heart with Brian

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

40 thoughts on “Where did I put my car keys?”

  1. you are not alone, my friend. However, I don’t have any kids that I can blame my temporary memory loss on. I too can remember the phone number of my childhood phone. Back in the dark ages, we didn’t have technology that would remember all of these things for us, so we learned to memorize them.

    I am blaming my occasional memory lapses on the fact that I have so much learned knowledge in my brain that sometimes the answer I’m looking for can’t crawl out from all of the other information weighing it down. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Oh, I hear you! Turning that “long term memory” to good use, one of my passwords is Mom’s old address from 40 years back, when I regularly wrote letters home. Another is a list of my last 3 cats. I don’t use “random generated”– that’s hopeless. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Oh my gosh…remembering one of your son’s middle school locker combinations? What a flashback. Yes! I had a convo recently with a friend about the permanent implants in our brains – childhood landline phone numbers. 😜

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I would sort of understand if the phone was still in use, but nope, it’s long gone. Ugh. Childhood landline phone numbers . . . that had to be a challenge for you. You moved a lot right? Ugh, first the problem of having to remember them as a kid. And now trying to forget them. ha, ha.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Brian, reflecting on my career with the fire department, I recall the monumental task of retaining an overwhelming amount of information, particularly during emergency operations as a Lieutenant. Upon my retirement at the age of 40, a significant shift occurred. I ceased the mental effort to recall the details critical to my profession. I also abandoned the conventional markers of time—days, weeks, weekends, and holidays.

    Now, I am left with the foundational skills honed during training, and the haunting memories of traumatic events, like silhouettes in dreams, somehow lacking pertinent information such as the location of the events.

    Like you, I still remember my childhood phone number from when I was a small child living in New York City. The last time I dialed it, it rang unanswered. I sometimes wonder what I might have said had someone picked up.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Wow, all the fire department information you had to retain. It’s crazy, that information has to go somewhere, right. Ha, ha. I woke up the other day remembering an old project management system that my peers and I had to use in an old job. I was thinking back on old codes and processes. Ugh. Why, why, why. Ha, ha. Oh the crazy places our minds take us.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Our brain holds onto unbelievable amounts of data. It amuses (but most times frustrates) me how I can remember that my friend Martyne writes her name with a “y” instead of an “i” but the password to my old laptop is gone. I had it fixed and I was POSITIVE I had the right password. Nope. I can give you my childhood phone number but I don’t know either of my children’s cell numbers. Why? Because we have become lazy and the numbers are all entered into our phones so we automatically choose the one we wish to speak with. I have to do like my neighbour and force myself to learn these numbers…

    And I’m with Alice. So much can be blamed on menopause.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I’ve heard it said that we lose 30% of our brain with each child we have….Also, I blame our smart phones. I used to be a walking rolodex and could recall phone numbers like a savant. We were going to refinance our home and I remembered the name and phone number of the mortgage banker from 10 year earlier! Now I don’t know my son’s phone number.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Ah yes – not to mention trying to remember what I went into a room to get. We need to give ourselves a lot of credit for all that we do manage to get done these days despite the failings of our bodies and minds!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Memory is such an interesting thing isn’t it and I agree with you about the devastation of Alzheimer’s.

    I do find that I can also remember seemingly useless information but for others, they start getting foggier.

    The joys of life. Good thing you remember the anniversary. That’s one you don’t wanna forget! 😆

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Till recently when we had a land line phone, I had memorized all the numbers I dialed frequently. Now my phone has all the memory while I’m left scratching my head 😂😱

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

Discover more from Writing from the Heart with Brian

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading