Senor citizens often have memory lapses! I never thought it would happen to me.
But now, I can admit with full clarity that I can hide my own Easter eggs!
It is so unnerving. I spend more time looking for my glasses, cell phone, purse, keys, than I want to admit. It isn’t just that I forget. I am oblivious when I put IT down. And even when Fred tells me he is going downtown, out to the yard, or wherever, I still don’t know where he went.
My latest fiasco has been the loss of a good pair of prescription glasses. They are my “sporty” ones; heavier duty, comfortable, and well, totally necessary to my well being! They have been hiding from me for at least two months.
I do remember taking them off and laying them down. I thought, “That’s a strange place to lay them, so I will need to remember to pick them up when I am done.”
I did not pick them up. I most likely walk by them 10 times a day. They probably would bite me if they could.
My latest fiasco was giving away some of my clothes that I liked. At least, I think I might have given them away. Not sure. Don’t remember.
Let me explain something. Greta never gets rid of anything. Greta thinks that sometime she might need it. No, she is not a hoarder. She just doesn’t give her things away until she is SURE that they are no longer needed.
I clean out my closet often. I stuff the clothes in a bag or two and run them down to the Budget Shop or the Thrift Shop.
Larned is certainly blessed with two very well run, clean, and orderly second-hand stores. I consider it MY duty to supply them.
I do not normally miss the items that I consider candidates for the second-hand stores.
A few weeks ago, Greta walked in our front door wearing a beautiful multi-colored accessory jacket. I recognized it.
We bought that SAME jacket at the same store two years ago.
I thought, “Where is my jacket?” I realized I hadn’t seen it in at least a year. In fact, I totally forgot about it entirely until I saw Greta’s.
Often when our children are small, we write their names in their jackets, boots, and so on. They are often left wherever the child has left them! They never know where. Schools fill box after box with unidentified articles of this and that. Often the clothing goes unclaimed, and some of these articles are good coats, athletic shoes, and so on.
I bet I took that jacket off and left it somewhere several seasons ago! I never missed it.
Of course I didn’t have my name written on the clothing tag. Oh no. I wouldn’t be that realistic and practical. From now on, I am doing that!
This last weekend, I began changing over my summer to fall wardrobe.  I noticed that several neat accessory articles of mine were missing.
OK Annie. Be calm.
Think.
Where did they go? I finally figured it out. They had to be at the Budget Shop…or was it the Thrift Shop?
Keep in mind that I remembered the pieces I was missing…or “thought” I might be missing. I get a gold star for that!
I drove to the Budget Shop and headed straight to the sweater, shirts, and jacket tree. There was my red cowl-neck sweater, and yes, there was my zip up “jacket” that went over it. Gee, what in the world was I thinking?
So, I bought back my clothes. No, they didn’t want me to pay for them. They thought my story was amusing. Ha Ha. But, yes, I did pay something for them. That’s my punishment.
Greta might have it right.
Or does she? She recently told me that she kept a box of crayons in a storage entrance room at her back door. She knew exactly where they were. They had been there for ages… except she decided to put them in a much better place a few weeks ago. Now she cannot find the crayons.
Mainly, I am tired. I am tired of wasting time looking for things. I heard years ago that it would be like this. But I didn’t believe it.
Now I do.

“A Woman’s View” is Judi Tabler’s reflection of her experiences and events. She is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, grandmother, and even a great grandmother.