Supposedly, ginseng has been proven as a memory booster for laboratory mice. This information has driven me to drink — ginseng tea. It’s not because ginseng is my favorite flavor, by any means. And, it’s not because I consider myself mousy. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. My memory is shot to heck.
This is not good for a woman who makes her living telling stories! More than once recently, I have forgotten where the storyline leads while I am smack dab in the middle of telling it in front of an audience. Oh, I dance around it very well … and by just changing directions with the story I’ve made up some killer new tales on the spot. However, as soon as I step off the stage, I forget them. The good news is that when I flub up in front of an audience, I can’t remember it the next day. The bad news is that the audience will!
I’m starting to be a bit concerned. My memory loss is not a natural part of the aging process. Though there are those who would claim that I am “demented,” I do not have clinical dementia. I also went to the doctor to determine that my thyroid medication was correct, so it’s not something as simple as taking a pill. I think the problem is stress … and I can’t figure out how in Thunder to get past that. This time of year is hectic for storytellers, with lots of work. Work is good, but it means that I get so overwhelmed that I don’t always keep myself organized.
Last night, I returned from a gig that required me to work both day and evening at a school far away. My drive in the morning to get to that town takes me at least two hours in heavy traffic (I can get home in half the time). I was gone from 5:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night.
When I walked in the door, I was relieved because I expected that Wednesday would be a day off for me before I drove back to that same town for gigs on Thursday and Friday. Then, I looked at my calendar and saw that I had scheduled for Wednesday not Thursday! My heart stopped.
In a panic, I went straight to bed to force myself to sleep so that I could get up at 4:30 the next morning. Have y’all ever tried to “force” yourself to sleep? It doesn’t work. All I could do was toss and turn thinking, “How did I do this to myself? Why would I schedule this back-to-back?”
This morning, I sprang out of bed at 4:30, showered, slapped makeup on my face, and got dressed. Satisfied that I had a few minutes to check my e-mail, I read a note from the patron I would be seeing for the day. She said, “We look forward to seeing you on Thursday.”
Wait a minute … I was ready to drive out the door, and I wasn’t due there until tomorrow! I didn’t schedule the gigs back-to-back — I wrote it on the calendar wrong! Thank Heavens I discovered it before I battled the Fort Worth rush hour. At 5:30 in the morning I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.
I thought about going to my coffee house and getting a cup of mocha, but they wouldn’t recognize me if I wasn’t wearing pajamas. They would think that Shelly had a doppelgänger. That thought was too frightening to force upon those fine folks. Instead, I plowed my face back into the pillows.
With a little more sleep, I feel almost normal. I’m on my fifth cup of ginseng tea, and I think I remember my name. Ginseng may not be my answer. If you want to play “Dr. Mom,” I’m happy to listen to any suggestions for how to improve my memory, however I won’t promise that I’ll remember them tomorrow.
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