A Star by Any Other Name

Last night Orin and I went to a movie. He has had his eye on Red 2 for days now. He thought the cast looked impressive and it was PG so that worked for me. Well, it was a violent little surprise. There were as many bodies flying around the screen as there are goose feathers in a pillow fight. Not even exaggerating. Lots of bullet holes and lots of bodies. But I loved the wardrobe, the shots of Paris, Moscow and London and some pretty glitzy interior design. It was upbeat and fun.

But it was a bit disturbing on another level. There is so much in the media these days about dementia, and brain related disorders and how – just because you are old it does not necessarily follow that you will lose your memory. So I spend a lot of time worrying about the fact that I sometimes can’t remember people’s names. Like really worry about it.

My doctor once told me about a flight he took from Edmonton to Calgary. There was a woman who would smile at him every time she caught his eye. It was disturbing – he thought she was pretty aggressive and he made a point of not speaking to her. A couple of days later he remembered that this was the girl that he had gone to his high school Grad with! So he assured me that I am fine. But I don’t know. I worry. 

Anyway I sat in the theatre and watched each one of the stars make their entrance onto the screen. With every new scene I started to have the same old panic. “I know that face – what is his name?” If you could have heard my mind you would wonder if I even knew what the movie was about. And then after a few critical and horrifying moments the names started to come. Bruce Willis . . yes, John Malkovich – of course.  Helen Mirren, Catherine Zeta Jones, Anthony Hopkins. With each flash of insight I felt a jolt of peace.  Like a phone call from my doctors office,  “You will not need to follow up this movie with a visit to our office.  For today only we wish to confirm that you are of sound mind. Have a nice day….”

And so all is well ... except that ...  I am  realizing... that I have absolutely NO IDEA who I went to my my Grad with. Yikes!