Drive-thru religion

by Lara

The Seven Works of Charity by Master of Alkmaar (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

I think I hit rock bottom last week, but really, who can remember?  It seems more often than would be possible for someone without a dementia diagnosis, I forget things.

Actually, it’s more that I am distracted than forgetful.

I can’t always remember if I washed my face in the shower and fear that I am often repeating this task. Or, I inadvertently put shower gel instead of face wash on my Clarisonic which results in a vibrating, floral-scented, foamy mess.

The week before, when I was cutting Brussels sprouts off its stalk I was half way finished before I realized that I had thrown the tiny cabbage-like balls into the trash can instead of the bowl that conspicuously sat on the counter.  I also opened a box of granola bars to throw into our snack bin and tossed them in the trash instead.

Frustrating, but relatively harmless, I spend a lot of time digging things out of the trash and re-washing body parts.  But sometimes the consequences are a little less benign– like when I accidently donated my husband’s suits to charity instead of taking them to the drycleaner.  That was costly.

My real wake-up call came the other day when I went through the Wendy’s drive-thru and was corrected by the cashier because apparently I was repeating myself.  “Ma’am, you already said you wanted an unsweet tea to go with your #1,” she reprimanded.  Geez, cut me some slack I thought.  I stammered along with the rest of my order and then fearing I had repeated something else, I fully disclosed that I couldn’t remember anything and wanted an unsweet tea.

I am terribly distracted much of the time.  And I worry that as I age my husband will not be able to tell what is merely my normal distracted-ness and what is really dementia.

We are all told to live in the moment, but which one?  I know I am not the only one doing a minimum of three different things at any given moment.  And often those three things don’t have much to do with God as they should.


Read the rest at Lara's blog  Mercy Me! I've got work to do!