Sometimes its not Alzheimers.
Picture for a moment a baby''s first look out a window, a tiny sliver of a new world. That window shows nothing understandable yet, as just one thing matters to you, food. As you grow so does your window.
As a teen that window is large enough for you to see 20 different things that matter to you, maybe school, a particular class, a new friend, perhaps a new probem that popped up.
In your 20''s and 30''s that window is enormous. Maybe 100 different things happening simultaneously and you are more than able to absorb it all.
Then the 40''s and 50''s come and you haven''t yet noticed, but your worldly window is closing. Of all the things happening still get absorbed, but you only find 10 or so that matter to you.
The next thing you know is you are in your 60''s and 70''s. You take in what you can but much like a wet paper towel, you can only absorb so much, and only the things that really matter to you. Those limited things become your world view.
When you''re a senior citizen you may see things through your window to the world and only a couple matter. Your kids call you and you talk about those few things and you bring them up more than once and your kids rattle their eyes and whisper, "oh God, now he''s repeating himself".
It''s not intentional and it''s not "old age" per se, it''s just that your window to the world is now so small that so little matters each day
and you repeat it when you speak because it''s important to you and you remember it.
Respect old folks and remember how small their window has become, for soon the window will close for them and they''ll become a memory of yours.
Glen C. Schulz
3/13/2024
So I find it ironic, coming up on 82 within a few months, that my world world has expanded greatly in my retirement, not having to focus on my repetitive work for 30 years, but branch out into writing 15 books and gathering many many acquaintances and linkages via the Internet. While I can't call any them friends, they are my life now along with my only partner and my siblings who are still alive with me. I have no children to communicate with and that gives me more time to read articles like yours and comment. Some that I comment on consider me a friend. That is not necessary, but I find, at this age, that my window is very wide, even though I am opting out of social media and some other trivia that will occupy too much of my time to be useful.
Ron