Yesterday while we were having lunch at Applebee’s, I had mentioned that one week from now we would be returning from Memphis. She looked surprised and asked, “What’s in Memphis?” I told her we were spending Thanksgiving with our daughter, Jesse, and Greg and the twins. She then asked me the boys’ names. She said, “You’re going to have to help me tell which one is which.” At first, I said that Ron is the one who is usually playing a video game on the TV in the family room and that Randy is frequently working on his Rubik’s Cube. I knew before it came out of my mouth that this was not going to work. Then she asked me to describe them. I told her a better way would be to show her pictures. I got out my phone and found several pictures I had taken on last February. I said Ron is the one on your left and Randy is the one on your right. Then she pointed to Ron and asked his name again. I told her. Then she point to Randy and asked the same thing. I told her. Then she went back to Ron. I didn’t really expect that this would help her remember them when we are there next week or even after lunch. I wasn’t even very surprised when she couldn’t remember them immediately after my telling her. We went over the names several times, and she never got them right.
Then I showed her pictures of our Texas grandchildren with a similar outcome. At one point, I asked her their parents’ names. She couldn’t tell me. I told her as I did before our trip to Texas in October. She really does know all of them. She just can’t attach names to them. I haven’t tested her, but I suspect she would have trouble just naming our son and daughter and their spouses. It would really be difficult to get the grandchildren’s names.
