As the mind goes

Since moving down to North Carolina my wife and I have never gone to the beach between May 1 and Labor Day.  The reason is simple to us the summer days are filled with families, which means kids, going to the beach.  We have raised our kids and do not enjoy listening to or looking out for other peoples kids because their parents don’t seem to care.  So we stay away from the beach.

Since we moved back to the Lake in 2005 we have not followed our usual path of making spontaneous trips someplace every now and then.  Planning has been necessary because we both work. Last week all that changed.

It all started when we received an email from our favorite place in North Myrtle Beach that provided a room at over 25% off their usual May-June rate. I casually mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about going to the beach, she looked at me as if to say, “How soon.”  That was as spontaneous as she has ever been.  We had worked twelve out of the last fourteen days and needed a break.

Within minutes I was calling the hotel and asked if they had a better rate than the one they sent us and they said yes.  The new rate was 40% off the published one.  We said book us, we’ll be there.  We didn’t tell anyone where we were going so we could feel that no one would interrupt our quiet long weekend. 

For me it was an eye opening weekend.  On the trip down I was doing my common play by play of our travels.  It goes something like this, “Here we are traveling down I-95 at 75 miles an hour because my wife thinks the true speed limit is what they put on the signs plus 5 mph.” I add,  “As we continue to travel down 95 there is a black truck coming up on our left etc, etc, etc.”  Generally my wife smiles or laughs when I first start the play-by-play but it doesn’t take long for her to tire of it. 

My wife was just about ready to shut me up when; I read off a highway billboard that dentures cost only $290.00.  After I read the sign she told me to shut up and I replied oh now that dentures are cheap you are going to knock my teeth out.  She laughed and then looked at me funny so I wasn’t sure if I went too far or not. 

We learned when we started down Route 17 into the beach area that it has been impacted by the economic downturn.  The good room rate was part of the signal but the almost empty streets on Thursday were a bigger indicator. 

As I said the weekend was an eye opener for me.  The next thing I realized is that I am misreading or understanding more and more words.  This really came to mind when I saw a sign on the front of a building that read – CRS.  My immediate thought was I didn’t know they had a headquarters for people who suffer from CRS, which is better known as - Can’t Remember Stuff [or another word that begins with s].  This thought came instantly then I read the small print and it was a Condo Sales office. 

I knew I was emotionally worn out while watching the finals of the National Spelling Bee.  I wanted every one of those kids who have worked so hard to make it to the nationals to win.  Knowing that was not possible I picked my favorite early on.  The commentator was talking about two kids that should win the Bee.  The camera then turned to the two kids sitting side by side.  One was a young lady who was trying to interest the young man next to her in a game of rock, paper, and scissors. He shunned her.

I figured that she was doing it to relax and he just wanted to stay focused.  My heart went out to her and her technique.   Her name was Kavya Shivashankar and she went on to win.  Tears came to my eyes when she won, just like I was a relative.  She won by spelling the word - “Laodicean,” which means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics.  For me this was just one more word that I have never heard of and would not be able to spell if I did know it.  The entire finals were spent spelling words that I could hardly pronounce and probably not be able to spell. 

The event brought back memories of when I would learn a new word every week.  It could not be a common word.  The problem was no matter which word I learned it seems that after I learned it everyone was using it.  My problem was that now when I want to use some of those words that I learned years ago my CRS illness kicks in and I end up having to write a new sentence because I could not remember the word.  

It seems from that point on my weekend was filled with misreading or misunderstanding words.  It got to the point that I wanted to take the clock test.  This is a test that doctors sometimes use as an early indication of dementia.  I know I don’t have it, but when my CRS kicks in, I wonder why.

So here I sit ending another column and wondering what else to say about the weekend because to be honest my CRS has kicked in big time.  So, I will stop now and hopefully if you tell me you enjoyed this I will remember what I was talking about, if not you can remind me and I won’t get mad.