Dealing With Memory Issues

Happy New Year, friends, and hope all is well out there.

I deal with memory issues.  I don't suffer from them PERSONALLY, other than the usual "I can't remember the details of a conversation we had six months ago" and "Oh, man, I forgot to turn off the lights in the Jeep and the battery's dead" sort of way.  Normal absentmindedness, in other words.

But I regularly interact with people who have significant memory loss, whether from dementia or other neurological issues, and it's a little tricky sometimes.  I'd rather be the one having to deal with it from the outside rather than the poor soul living through it, of course.  Still and all, sometimes it's frustrating.

I'm going to be a little more cautious in this post about identifying people, for fear of embarrassing them.  I generally have people's permission to tell personal stories, and it's hard to get permission to share something that the individual in question doesn't remember happening.

But I was recently talking with a person (maybe a family member, maybe just a friend) who regularly forgets things, and he or she had completely forgotten some very significant interactions we'd had just a few days before and got upset with me when I brought it up.  In my defense I had no reason to know that he or she didn't remember the conversation--the memory issues are sporadic.  But I got accused of making the whole thing up and I don't mind telling you that kind of bugged me.

I appreciate that it'd be terrifying to have someone tell me about something recent I'd said or done that I had absolutely no recollection of, and there is a huge need for patience and compassion in being friends with people with memory issues.  I appreciate prayers for wisdom and grace, because it's not likely going to get any easier.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.