We're Going to Have a Great Day!

This morning upon waking, I caught myself conversing inside my mind as if I was directing a class of students.  I might even have been talking out loud. A bit.

Okay. What's the date today everyone? Thursday. You're right! Almost the end of the week. We're getting there. Here we go.

Made it upright and collected the dogs.

Good morning! Everybody up and out! (This part was out loud). The "everybody" is all of two dogs, one big boxer and one small Boston terrier, who sleep on their own doggie beds on the floor next to our bed. My husband is not part of the everybody because he sleeps like a rock and wakes up after everybody else anyways.

The two dogs love the "everybody," I sense, because it makes them feel like they're in a pack, and according to Cesar Milan, all dogs need to feel part of a pack. They happily trot ahead, looking back at me for direction. I lead even from the rear, and out we go into the dawn for them to take care of dog business. 

The leading the dogs part is not so weird. They like the routine, tune into my voice, and who doesn't talk to their pets? What startled me this morning is how I oh-so-easily slid back into the narration of directing a whole group right inside my own head.

Ok. Shower done. Time? Yup, we're looking good. Let's make sure we remember the laptop charger today...


My God, when did I start doing this? I know I wasn't doing it this summer. Did it start with the new school year? When did my self-talk change to this craziness of the plural pronoun?

And then it hit me. I'm old. I am suddenly old. Just a few days before the students arrived this year, I turned 50. Half a century. It's the onset of dementia. I'm becoming daft, delusional!

The idea of retirement, for the very first time, lit up in my mind. When do people retire now-a-days? Certainly people are working longer and stronger than they ever have in history, considering technology's easing of physical labor and medicine's support of our health. But at the rate my mind is going now, with all this "we" and "everybody" business, I might slip into directing shoppers at Hannaford any day now.

Well, we'll just have to work on avoiding that, right? So for now let's just get lunched packed and start our day. We're going to have a great day, everybody!


















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