Forgetfulness ofOld People (2)

Young B.Lee

Journal

I. An Old Man’s Forgetfulness

Monday, September 22, 2025

At 8 a.m., I had a hamburger with my Tai Chi companions at Scratch Café, next to Trader Joe’s. After parting ways with them, I went to Clubhouse One, where I enjoyed a pleasant swim under the warm morning sun. Feeling refreshed, I returned home in good spirits.

A few hours later, it suddenly occurred to me that I might have left my jacket at the pool. I clearly remembered hanging it in the closet, but I couldn’t recall whether I had taken it with me when I went swimming. I went to the car to check carefully—nothing. I searched every corner of the house, but it was nowhere to be found.

Thinking, “It must be in the pool restroom,” I called the club office. The staff said they would check, but after a while, they called back saying they couldn’t find it. I felt quite disappointed—it was a jacket my wife had bought me just a week ago.

I wasn’t in a great mood after realizing I had lost it, but I soon comforted myself by thinking, “Well, lost things can always be replaced.”

Two days later, my wife went to the department store and bought me the same jacket again. She said I should wear it since the mornings and evenings were getting chilly. I was thankful, but at the same time, I felt a little guilty. A thought flashed through my mind—“Have I become a child instead of an adult?”

Then something even more surprising happened. As I opened the closet to hang up the new jacket, I spotted the exact same one—the jacket I thought I had lost!

Now that I’m ninety-one, my forgetfulness has worsened. Incidents like this happen quite often these days.

But there’s one thing I’m proud of. When I was younger, I might have thought, “Americans never touch other people’s belongings, but it must’ve been taken by a xxxxx people.” In other words, I might have wrongly blamed an innocent neighbor.
This time, however, that thought never crossed my mind. I silently praised myself, thinking, “Well done!” and thanked my protector.

II. The Grandpa Who Went to the Wrong Address

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Today was quite a busy day. I had two hours of Bible study in the morning, and in the afternoon, I helped prepare for a Super Senior birthday party. After finishing everything and coming home in the evening, I was greeted by a surprise—someone had neatly parked a car in my parking spot!

I thought to myself, “Which fool parked here?” but then reconsidered. Maybe it was an elderly man like me, with a forgetful mind, who had parked there by mistake. So, I decided not to get upset.

From my room, I called the security office and gave them the car’s license number. The next day, when I went to check, the car was still there. The office said there was no record of my report from the day before. “Good grief,” I muttered, and gave them the number again.

A few minutes later, they called back to say that the car wasn’t registered in the system, and that they’d done all they could. The last option was to call a towing company—but that, they said, was my responsibility.

Thinking about how expensive towing would be for the other person, we decided to endure the inconvenience for a few more days.

The issue was resolved after two days. It turned out that the car belonged to the resident of Unit 904—while my unit is 504. It seemed it was my own mistake, another case of forgetfulness from an old man like me.

III. The Ice Cream Story

Saturday, October 11, 2025

There was an elderly couple, both around ninety, struggling with memory problems. After visiting their doctor one day, they decided to start writing things down to help remember.

That night, while watching TV, the husband got up and said as he headed to the kitchen,
“Do you want anything while I’m in there?”

His wife replied,
“Just a bowl of ice cream, please.”
“Got it,” he said.

She added,
“Maybe you should write it down, in case you forget.”
“No need,” he said. “I can remember.”

“Then could you put some strawberries on top? But maybe you really should write it down.”
The husband, sounding annoyed, replied,
“I don’t need to write it down! I’ll remember! Ice cream with strawberries, right?”

He trudged off to the kitchen. About twenty minutes later, he returned and handed her a plate of bacon and eggs.

The wife looked at the plate for a moment and then said,
“Where’s my toast?”

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