WHEN I THOUGHT HE'D LOST IT

     I guess I should pay more attention to popular culture, because one of the more chilling moments of my life happened because of my not knowing enough about it. When you get to a certain age bracket, you can't help being concerned about the shadow of Alzheimer's Disease. It seems so ominous and so prevalent. So......before Christmas I left a card with tip included for our newspaper delivery man. His motor route delivery comes so early each morning we never see him, but still appreciate his services. Because it's dark at that time of year, I fastened the Christmas card to the top of the newspaper tube with a clip clothespin so he could see it in the darkness.
      Later that day, my husband went out to get the paper and returned with the clothespin in his hand. "Here," he said, handing me the clothespin. "He took the card, but he left the cannoli." Normally, I would just have replied something like that's a clothespin, you idiot, but with the specter of the onset of that horrible affliction, I merely took the clothespin and put it back in the drawer. I felt a chill: isn't one of the classic symptoms of Alzheimer's losing the name of common objects? Calling a clothespin a cannoli seemed to fit that symptom to a tee.                I didn't want to tell anyone, thinking that soon enough everyone would find out anyway. The disease always progresses, doesn't it, though at different rates. Let's live with what we have while we have it and worry only when we really need to. I know that may not be the best approach, but that's all I could deal with at the time. So I watched and waited, looking for other signs. Nothing much happened so I thought maybe it was just a fluke of some kind, but the fear was still there.
      Then while watching some awards show on TV, probably in March, I heard one of the honorees say, while accepting his award, "I'll take the award and leave the cannoli.." It was like I'd gotten an electric shock. I asked my son what the actor meant by that, and he answered that it was an often quoted phrase from "The Godfather" movie where a character at a bakery where a murder has occurred says to "take the gun, leave the cannoli." I felt so relieved and so stupid. I guess I should worry more about myself, and less about others.