Memory aids can be useful

#MiddleburyCT #Seniors #Memory

There may come a time when you can no longer immediately remember the 25 telephone numbers that used to be easily recalled. I suspect it comes to us all. When it does, it’s time to start making lists.

Having a cellphone is probably the easiest way to save all those numbers. But the problem comes when the phone is on its charger and can’t be accessed. Written lists are a lifesaver then.

I made such a list for my father many years ago, not suspecting then that I would need the same type of list someday. I’d taped his list inside the cabinet door in his kitchen, the one right above the phone on the wall.

I now have a similar list taped to the inside of my own cabinet door, but in one other place as well: a slim piece of paper on the side of my computer monitor. Of the two, that’s the most handy because I’m often at the computer.

I’ve also made a list for the other side of the monitor of important dates with items such as inspection and new tags for the car and the next date to pick up a three-month batch of prescriptions at the pharmacy.

One thing that was helpful for my father years ago when he was very senior and using his first computer: I made him a notebook of instructions. In a three-ring binder I put pages with one instruction per page, with titles like “How to Send Email,” and I’d start each instruction with “Turn on the computer,” because that’s where his skill level was. Periodically, as his computer skills grew, he’d request additional instruction pages. It was a lot easier than trying to teach him by telephone.

Nowadays, if he were still living, I’m sure I’d be creating a “How to Use the Cellphone” notebook for him. I’d be happy to do so.

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