At the tender age of eighty-four, our minds go into hiding. For example, yesterday I had an idea about something I wanted to write about for The Latest, and today I can't remember what it was!

I should get in the habit of writing things down more, but I forget to do it. That's the problem about having a bad memory, or hardly much left from years of using it. I use pills, I write notes, and all of it turns into mashed potatoes in my head. I have to wonder if there are any folk out there who still read this blog, and if so, whether they would be kind enough to lend me a helping hand in figuring out how one retains memory. For me, writing has helped, and I am in search of other ways to do it. 

And here's another major problem. I can't write without smoking. I am sitting here with a hose in my nose that is attached to a puffer machine that sends oxygen to my body and brain. And yet, it also becomes almost impossible to write without having a cigarette at my elbow.

Can anyone understand my plight? Perhaps somewhere in the world is a person who is my age and has discovered the solution to loss of memory. Perhaps I am looking for too much when I ask for a solution.  I have been doing fairly well on my own. However, one can always add to the methods they use to accomplish a goal.

Without memory, what do we have? Generally it is an old body that desperately wants to participate in the world, and discovers that it has difficulty doing it, and wants to find improvement.

However, writing this, I recognize that I haven't lost my sense of humor. I am aware that I can still carry on an intelligent conversation when I want to. But I must admit that I just took a couple of puffs out of a cigarette, and it tasted awful. Nonetheless, after doing it for a lifetime, it's no easy task to stop. Who asked for that darn cigarette anyway? I really didn't need or want it. 

As regards the oxygen puffer, there's a major problem. It's very difficult to sleep with it. In fact I feel like I'm sleeping with a can, and who wants to sleep with cans? (I'm not sure if a question mark belongs at the end of that sentence, but this old college professor is trying to remember her grammar).

In all honesty, I had already forgotten the title of what I wanted to write about when I started this article. However, I cheated and went back to the top of the page and discovered the answer to my query -- now I owe a thank you to this wonderful machine I am typing on for giving me the correct spelling of that word.