The Loss of Short Term.... ummm ... The loss of memory....

Since no one reads this, I feel relatively safe in commenting here. My favorite phrase of late.. who am I kidding... of the last few years is, "I don't remember." I don't remember fun/wild things I have done with my best friend. I didn't remember where I went on my first cruise with my beloved. I definitely don't remember my high school years the way other people remember them. I don't seem to remember anything.

I have been thinking that I should have kept a journal all these years. A diary. I had one on and off in high school and college. Had one on and off throughout the decades (GADS.... decades. I have been alive for decades. I have been alive longer than I probably have to live!! EGADS!!!! where did that word come from anyway? Egads. Will need to go look that up so I can not remember it at some point in the future.) Am thinking now that I should have been a little more disciplined about keeping a journal. Oprah does/has. I think I bought into the whole notion of 'nothing written down is nothing that can be used against you'. Bad advice. I miss all the missing years.

This is my start of keeping one again. I think. Haven't quite decided between this and the book on the shelf at home. This would be easier... I can access it from almost anywhere... but the book offers more privacy. Maybe I will just use my website instead... put up a page with some impossible password, or a hidden page or just carry around a word document on a flash drive. I need to write. I need a place to put it all down so I can reference it in my old age. (Wait, am I there already?) I hate the memory loss. It makes me feel stoopid.

So, where am I today? At Starving Rock... aka Starved Rock State Park Lodge. With my besties! Jayne, Kay and Kat. We are here to get away from everyone else. All responsibility. All errands, jobs, parents, kids, spousal equivalents, pets, annoyances, etc. Just us, some wine and some trails. And food. Lots and lots of food.

We got here yesterday. Kay and I caught up with each other in Morris and had lunch (ate too much... little diner with homemade bread toasted just right for the sandwich and red-all-the-way-thru strawberry salad. ate too much) Dropped the sewing machine off for repair. Silly thing won't tension correctly. I gave up and gave it to Leo. He can do anything.

Kay and I proceeded on to the Lodge. Unpacked. Thought seriously about taking a nap. Didn't. About that time Jayne called to announce her arrival. She was lost in the trees and her Tom-Tom (gps) had given up. We got her here. Started to unload the car and Kat pulled up. What GREAT timing. We flopped in the room for a while (reminds me... where does the phrase 'flop sweat' come from??), chatted, surfed the web and then headed out for dinner at the fish place. No, can't remember the name. It's the fish place. Captain's Cove, I believe. Down the road on the north side of the river, east of Utica, down in the same direction of where we last picked up Chuck when he rode out here 2 years ago.

Sidebar: Weird.. there is a guy across the lobby from me who looks just like Dru Peterson. Bet he gets that all the time... Spooky.... even tho I know Dru is in jail at this very moment, this guy is a dead ringer.

Chuck was well on his way to making it to the lodge before dark when the path posted a sign that said 'path out ahead'. Being Chuck, he didn't believe it and kept going. Until the path disappeared. By then it was almost dark and he was covered in clay and mud and called for a pickup. I think there is still clay in Kays van. Chuck is sure there is still clay/mud in his wheels. It was a fun pick-up.

Today we are supposed to hike... but the radar isn't looking pormising. Giant cloud with red spots in it. I think we are going to get pounded really soon.

I should go get an umbrella. More later