Most people call it having senior moments…or being distracted…or being a little ditsy. Me, I think I have squirrels in my head. Remember the movie “Up” where mid-everything the dog’s head jerks around and he shouts, “Squirrel!” My brain does that…
What if mice have moved into my attic? Is it worth it to call an exterminator? I heard peppermint oil will drive them off. But I’d bet they’ll eat my stash of peppermint patties if they can find them. Hah! No one can find them…
So, I think mini-squirrels are nesting in my head. My brain darts from thought to thought, worry to worry, old joke to song riffs. It’s not ADHD; it’s too much stuff packed into a limited space…a very limited space.
Maybe if I move the dog food, the mice will give up and move out…
There are multiple scientific studies about attention, from the development of problem-solving in children, to the adult process for decision making, to the elderly’s decreasing retention of ideas. How the mind takes the short term event to workable thinking to permanent memory is amazing. I saw it in the generations around me, from my grandchildren’s decision to “shelf climb” to reach a book, to my mother’s creeping inability to even remember anything as simple as if she had eaten.
I have to go to the store for dog food. And I’m out of cream for my coffee. I need to write about how much I love coffee. It can hold so much social fabric together. Especially if it rains. Geez but my plants need water again…
As a teacher, I used to work with many kids who had short term memory issues. I got good at teaching strategies from using music to cue work time, to list making. And maybe I need to reteach myself. I should begin with lists.
I know I made a list for the store. I think I left it beside the empty gum packet. If I don’t get more gum soon I’m going to gnaw my way through a package of Oreos. I wonder why chocolate is so wonderful. Oh you wonderful you…Itsy bitsy teeny weenie yellow polka dot…
I don’t think people who know me consider that I have attention issues. I can write a book, run a meeting, organize lesson plans for multiple classes for a week, semester or year. But no one else is in my head. No one else has to segregate the scampering thoughts or the memories sparkling up with the quickness of a struck match.
The air is so smoky with the wild fires this summer. Not even barbeques allowed now. I’ll bet my daughter’s camping trip will be less fun without campfires. No s’mores. They could make them without toasting the marshmallows. Maybe I should ask them to come here instead – no barbeque but we can hang out…
So I can think of it as a filing cabinet stuffed to over flowing. Or less agile dendrites in my synaptic connections. Or the sensory magnificence of our mental, spiritual and physical existence.
Or maybe I have squirrels nesting in my head.
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