I think I have a serious problem...

[Tonya]

Ok, I think I have a serious head problem. I've always been a tad forgetful, but listen to this one...

When Jaden was a baby, I rented this huge beautiful victorian house. The rent was cheap because I shared it with a psychiatrist that owned the house. The house was divided in two and separated by a laundry room. Our exterior doors were side by side and we had seperate bathrooms but we shared the laundry room, garage and yard. I had my own kitchen, but his kitchen was in the laundry room. The landlord lived in a city 2 hours away and stayed in the other part of the house Mon-Fri because his practice was here in Modesto. I wrote my rent checks out to him monthly and hand delivered them. We saw each other pretty much every day, as you can imagine. He drove a tan Jeep Cherokee and his name was Marc XXX. I lived there a year and a half and I moved out Jan. 2000, so this wasn't a loooong time ago.

So, fast forward a few years. When Jaden was diagnosed with ADHD, I took some classes for three months taught by a Marc XXX. Then, when Jaden was referred to a psychiatrist to monitor his meds, I was referred to the same Marc XXX. And, I even once saw him drive in the parking lot in a tan Jeep Cherokee and kind of made a mental note on what he was driving. (You know how you are sometimes curious about your doctor's lives.) I've sat in his office a minimum of once a month for the past year and talked to him on the phone many many times not to mention I took those ADHD classed two years ago.

Yet...I never even made the connection. I didn't ever even think "He seems familiar." Then, today, I was driving, and it just hit me. "That's my old landlord/housemate!"

How I could have known him so well just five years ago, even wrote checks out to him...that very same name, all those similarities and not made the connection in my brain? I've totally gotten to know him a second time, and still nothing. It took me a whole year to connect that!? His looks or personality haven't changed a tad.

What the heck is the matter with me?! This really freaks me out.

[flamepony12]

I don't think anything's wrong with you, I'm 14 and i 4get stuff like that all the time! uless somethings wrong w/ me too...

[catfancier]

What about the other side of the coin - did Marc make any mention about you staying in the same house and that he was your landlord etc? If he made no mention, that seems completely bizarre as well considering you 'shared' a house for over 1 1/2 years.

Maybe he performed a psychiatric trick on you, hypnotised you so you would forget about him, his car and living with him... and you didn't realise until recently!

That does seem really weird though!

[catnapper]

You have a LOT on your mind. Your pregnancy, work, nutty family, moving (insane ex-neighbors) A speed racing hubby.... so recognizing a housemate from 5 years ago is waaaayyy down low on the things that should be foremost in your brain.

Funny though that he's still driving that smae Jeep.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by catfancier
What about the other side of the coin - did Marc make any mention about you staying in the same house and that he was your landlord etc? If he made no mention, that seems completely bizarre as well considering you 'shared' a house for over 1 1/2 years.

Maybe he performed a psychiatric trick on you, hypnotised you so you would forget about him, his car and living with him... and you didn't realise until recently!

That does seem really weird though!

Yeah, next time I see him I'm going to ask him about that. Maybe it's unprofessional for him to mention those kind of things or something. I could imagine him not recognizing us more because I've grown my hair out, grown up alot, etc... Jaden was just a baby at the time and we had different last names....But me forgetting him...I have no excuses!

I mean, the guy was always anti-social and he worked long hours...but I still saw him! We'd leave for work at the same time every morning but he'd normally come home at night around 10pm. Occassionally, he'd have weekend work, so he'd stay the weekend there too.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by catnapper
You have a LOT on your mind. Your pregnancy, work, nutty family, moving (insane ex-neighbors) A speed racing hubby.... so recognizing a housemate from 5 years ago is waaaayyy down low on the things that should be foremost in your brain.

Funny though that he's still driving that smae Jeep.

Yeah, I've had on my mind but it still freaks me out. I'm the type of person that'll see someone at a store...then two days later see them at a night club and say "Hey, you were at Target Wednesday! I remember you, you had a white shirt on and you were with a little girl!" And yet I can't remember this guy!?

Sort of funny that he has that same Jeep but I am not shocked. His wife stayed in Oakland (where they're from) the whole time, but if she came down, she always had this ooooold Porche. It was in good shape, but it was old. He also had a back up car that sat in the garage, it was a really oooold Mercedes in good condition. We always wondered why a psych (thought they made good money) didn't have newer nicer cars. I guess he's just thrifty.

[carole]

Tonya I would not worry too much about it, just wait until you reach my age honey, but seriously I can understand if its not in your norm to feel anxious.

Just keep an eye on it, and if you keep having a lot of forgetful moments, then maybe you should just have a check up.

Honestly though IMO (specialist in forgetfulness) I don't think you have a serious problem, but fustrating to say the least.

Just wait , there is more fun to come, like for example, I go and get a plate out of the cupboard to put my sandwhich on, and then go into the cupboard to do it again, Grr, I have been doing that all the time lately, and get real mad at myself.

One thing I am good at, is faces I can meet someone only once and know I have met them somewhere, can't always place them straight away, but it come to me eventually.

So cheer up , it is not as bad as it seems.

[Fox-Gal]

If there's something wrong with you then theres something wrong with me too.

There was this one day, I was leaving a store when this guy came up to me, huged me and said "Libby, it's been so long" "How are you" etc etc. He asked about all kinds of things about my life, so I know he knows me. I have no idea who this man is!!!! I totally forgot someone who I assume I knew fairly well by the way he was talking.

I just write it off to that's life, some people make huge impressions in our lifes even if we only knew them a short time and other leave small impressions. I'm just writting him off as a small impression.

Maybe this man was just a small impression, just someone you knew but you never had a true bond of friendship with, so he didn't stand out in your memories. Our mind stores everything, but only lets out some of it. It just took your mind a little while to let out that memory.

There's nothing wrong with you.

[Tonya]

Thanks everyone. You make me feel better. I honestly felt like I was nuts when it had dawned on me. I don't like not remembering things, it scares me.