As usual, Kate and I are at Panera this morning. A moment ago, she initiated a brief conversation about names. It began when she looked at me and said, “What is your name?”
I said, “I would tell you, but I think you’re teasing me.”
She started guessing, “Charles. . . David. . .John.”
Then she asked me to tell her. I asked her if she really didn’t remember or was just playing with me. She said she really couldn’t remember.
I said, “Richard.”
She said, “I know that. What’s your last name?”
Richard: “Creighton.”
Kate: “I don’t think I remember my name.”
Richard: “What is it?”
She thought a minute and said, “Kate.” Then she added her middle name.
Kate: “Do we have children?”
Richard: “Yes, we have two wonderful children, a girl and a boy.” Then I proceeded to tell her their names as well as the names of their spouses and children.
Kate: “Well, I really know them. I just couldn’t remember. I’m a little slow this morning.”
The interesting thing is that, aside from this memory lapse, she seems quite sharp this morning. A little earlier, Claude, a man we see frequently when we are here, stopped at our table and visited for a while. During his visit, she teased him about several things. He left for a while. When he returned to get a refill on his coffee, he teased her by saying that she had hurt his feelings earlier. She told him she had lived with me too long and was picking up some of my habits. He said she better smile at him from now on. She did.
A few minutes later, I leaned over to Kate and said, “I love you.”
She said, “I love you too. Of course, I can’t remember your name.”
I said, “The name is not that important.”
She asked, “What is your name?” Then she guessed several names and finally asked me to tell her.
When I told her, I said, “You knew that.”
She said, “Yes, but it just wouldn’t come to me.”
