I'm 46 years old--I double-checked with my husband this morning--and I'm amazed that my brain is still capable of soaking up new information. Previous to this summer, I hadn't been in school in about 20 years. Every Sunday night, I find I've completely forgotten what I watched on Masterpiece Theater the previous Sunday. I can't recognize movies by their names (and it takes at least 10 minutes of description before I'll recognize the plot if I ever do), and names of things--objects, movie actors, people I've known for years, evade my tongue more often than not.
I really had doubts about what I would find out about the state of my brain when I went back to school. But I figured that if I found that everything slipped out of the brain as quickly as I put it in, I'd just drop the class and go in some other direction, like maybe working in a coffee shop.
But there I was, sitting at one of six or eight long tables with 35 or so other students, my scantron on the table in front of me, pencil in hand, and my fingers filled in one answer bubble after another. They seemed to know what they were doing. In fact, I'm doing very well in the class and enjoying it, too.
Why am I able to remember this stuff about bones and skin and connective tissue, but am unable to remember words like "window sill," and "key chain" when I need them? And why is it that it's always nouns that evade my tongue? Have you ever found yourself searching for a word that means "really nice to look at"? Me neither.
