The Evil Stepsisters

Day two - Dementia and Alzheimer’s have been on my mind. Also, those names remind me of the evil stepsisters in Cinderella. I have been afraid of developing one or both of these diseases ever since I knew what they were. My memory is my best friend, my own personal time machine. My grandpa told me as child that I had a photographic memory and while I’ve never been tested I can tell you for certain where my family sat at Vinces spaghetti house back when it was still in Ontario. I can close my eyes and see my Mimi’s living room exactly as it was in 1991. I can remember what I wore my first day of high school and where I bought the outfit. I can walk into a friends house and tell them what has been moved on a shelf. Point is I have an uncanny knack for remembering with great and specific detail moments, people and places as far back as toddlerhood. My short term memory has always suffered thanks to my thyroid disease but my long term memory is an Olympic gold medalist.  Thanks to those evil stepsisters there could come a day where I don’t remember my own damn name, the faces of my family or how to write. Those damn sisters could toss out  all the song lyrics, my encyclopedic knowledge of all things 80’s, the States and Capitals like they tossed clothes onto the floor for Cinderella to wash. Worry gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere so I won’t worry about the evil stepsisters. Instead I will exercise my brain in all the ways I know. I will take suggestions about other ways to fight. I will eat brain food and drink plenty of water. PS... the stepsisters names are actually Druzella and Anastasia. I remember because my Mimi & Grandpa took me to see Cinderella at the Foothill Center movie theater in Azusa and I had frozen junior mints for the first time that day.