from popofatticus

Every day this week, I’ll be posting based upon a random Flickr image that inspires me. Here’s one now.

Is that a cute pic, or what? It reminds me very much of my 2 year old granddaughter. She’s at that stage of blooming independence in which she wants to do things for herself without any help from us old fogies. If I attempt to help her put on her shoes, for example, she’ll say “I got dis”. Sometimes, she does “have it” under control, and other times she still needs my help. But her confidence in her growing abilities is fun to watch.

I, on the other hand, am regressing as I age. Rather than growing in independence, I’m becoming more dependent. I now have to depend upon reading glasses to read things. I now have to hold on to things (chair arms, tables, whatever) to go from a sitting to a standing position or vice-versa, more and more frequently. And the worst of it all is that I am losing my memory quite significantly. This is the ultimate in dependence. I can no longer depend upon my own mind to remember things the way I used to do. When it comes to memory, I can no longer confidently say, “I got dis”.

So, what’s an aging brain to do? Give it some help, that’s what! I use Google Calendar and my smart phone to help me remember most things. I can just record a thought on my phone in case I get one of my cool ideas and don’t want to forget it 10 minutes later. I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t hook up my brain to an electronic memory machine sometime in the future, but for now, I simply let online calendars and smart phone gizmos remind me of the things I need to remember, so I can continue to say, “I got dis”. Technology FTW.