It’s what we all fear – not being able to, as they say, think straight. This isn’t the right term, since thinking straight is a very limiting term. Thinking associatively, thinking creatively, thinking in a non-linear fashion, this is thinking at its best.

So far, so good for me. I can’t hold three thoughts in my head, for example, when I want to give reasons for something. I might always have been this way and just a year ago noticed this. And sometimes I can’t bring the right word to mind. And additionally, I often pause in talking because I can’t pull my thoughts together fast enough.

That’s it. I do remember when someone wants a specific book – and most of the time, I remember names.

Getting hearing aids helped a lot with this. I am less apt to drift away from conversations because the struggle to hear is not worth the effort of attempting to chime in. I also bow out because saying “what” or “pardon,” I know, bothers people.

Alys at Moosey Park

I am having a problem hearing still; for example, today I was in several classes and I could not hear the softer voices of the children. I did pretend some. But I knew that I was pretending, and so I will have my hearing aids checked out.

My knowing I am pretending is a sign that I’m not yet going off the rails.

So I am, in summation, thinking straight.

Today, as I was driving home after reading to innumerable children, it occurred to me that I am not wanting to leap with both feet into schools and read books to children. I didn’t like doing this by myself and not being given any direction. But more importantly, this isn’t what I want to be doing indefinitely.

This is a matter of thinking things through. I need to find people who are going to give me an assist. There must be others out there who enjoy and are good at reading to children. I will have to make a concerted effort to find them.

Keeping the BLBP going, and overall, getting others to take on the various roles, is a worthy goal. This previous statement is actually an example of straight thinking.

It was accidental and incidental, my starting this project and its subsequent growth. This has kept me sharper than I would have been had I continued to do as I was doing, living a semi-solitary life.

Yes, I very much wish that I could live that life again – no, let me stand corrected, find a balance between my old life and my new life. Pete has intimated that if I am patient, this will come to be. I am hoping that it happens this spring, which is that magical time of year in which there is light, warmth, and greenery.

Having the light back is a sign that the other spring prerequisites will follow.

It took me the better part of an evening to write this – I had two articles to finish. That I was able to repeatedly pick up where I left off is a sign that I am at least still thinking associatively.

Next: 65. 3/6/26: Daylight Savings Time