The Joys Of Growing Older

I find as I get older that I’m having trouble when it comes to remembering time. This is not to say I don’t know what time it is or forget what time to be somewhere but rather getting a firm grasp of things from the past. I keep coming across events and people and when I try and reflect back on just when they were a part of my life I’m often not even close. It’s getting so bad that in conversation I will often say something like “that was a lifetime ago” and then the person (especially if it’s a woman) will reply….”well it was not that long ago.”

I really don’t believe this is a deterioration of my long-term memory or a sign that I’m starting to lose it but rather more a product of too much information. Somebody will ask me about a person who used to work at the radio station and sometimes I will have no or little recollection of them. That’s due to the fact that over 30 years I’ve worked with hundreds of people, some of whom were here just long enough to have a cup of coffee or at least it seems that way.

Then there are the athletes and coaches I have covered and worked with over three decades. I may have trouble placing the names with the faces but once I do then there’s a pretty good chance I’ll remember quite a bit about their achievements. Where I can be shaky is when I try to think back as to just when they might have played. I’ll ask about how they are doing in college and find out they graduated several years ago. What really gets me is when I come across someone who it seems played in high school just a few years ago and I learn they are in their late 30’s with kids in school already.

There is an upside to these often stark reminders that I’ve been around a long time. That is when I bump into a former athlete who mentions something I might have said or did about them or for them many years earlier. It could have been at their sports banquet, or during a game we were broadcasting or even through the WOBM Christmas Classic. That will make me feel good until I go home and want to share the comment with my wife and forget who the person was. I guess my mind really is shot.