Feeling nervous at the airport

(Chapter 12 Navigating Relationships While Living with a Memory Impairment in my book)

Recently, a close friend and I boarded a plane to Maryland. Our flight arrived around ten am and when I called the hotel, they said that we couldn't check in until three pm. So we just hung out at the airport until we could check into our hotel. Unfortunately, I was the one who booked out flights and the hotel. I didn't even think about checking with the hotel and knowing what time we could check in before I booked our flight. Had I thought about that, I would have scheduled a later flight. Perhaps next time, someone else needs to plan the trip. I feel bad that I made this mistake but my friend was very understanding.

Soon after we sat down, she said that she would be right back and that she was looking for a place to eat. I think that she was only gone for a short time when I started to panic. Within a very short time, I had forgotten where she went, which direction she was headed and when she would be back. I was a little nervous being in an unfamiliar place, such as this airport. I think that this happened to me more than once on this day! A short time later she returned and we talked about what happened.

Several days later, we were at the airport waiting for our flight to go back home. There was a time when my friend went somewhere in the airport, but luckily this time I remembered that she was getting some lunch for herself. I couldn't go with her because all the walking really increases the pain in my knee.

Because I have a memory impairment, I can often forget things, just moments later. My long-term memory is still pretty good. In thinking about this trip, I had a lot of anxiety when she left me in the airport alone.

For now, on if I travel with someone, I will need to bring a little pad of paper and pen with me. If we are going to be separated for any reason, I will need whoever is with me to write the date, time, where they went and when they should be back. I will also have them write their cell phone number on the paper. That should help avoid a lot of anxiety that happened with this trip. With the memory impairment, I can forget things seconds or minutes later. Poof and the words are gone!