My Confusion!
(Chapter 8 Confused in my book)
It was a night that I thought that I would enjoy because I was going into Boston to see a concert. I drove down to MA and I spent part of the day with my mom. The confusion started when I was trying to park my vehicle at the train station parking lot. I know that I've been there before and it was just this past January when I went to a Boston Bruins game, but I was with someone.
On this particular night I was traveling alone. As I drove towards the parking lot, I saw signs near where the buses were parked and it said Do Not Enter. So, I didn't enter there and instead I drove onto unfamiliar streets and when I found my way back to the train station area, I found an entrance to the parking lot. Then I looked over and I saw several cars near the buses where I was afraid to drive down before, so I'm not sure what those signs meant. They were driving right past the buses, so I guess I could have done that. I paid the parking attendant and I parked my car.
Now the big question was do I need to take the inbound or the outbound train? I looked at the map on the wall and I thought that I needed to go outbound. So, I followed the signs to the outbound train platform. As I waited for the train, I started feeling nervous because I wasn't sure if I was going the right way. I decided to ask someone who was also waiting for the train. I told them that I needed to go into Boston and they said that I was on the wrong side. I needed to take the inbound train. She told me how to get to the other side. Luckily, I was able to follow her directions and I was able to get to the inbound train platform. A few minutes later the train arrived. After I got onto the train and found a seat, I looked at the map and I knew that I only had to go two stops on the train before I would arrive at my stop. When the train arrived at my stop, I got off the train and followed the signs that led me outside. Outside the train station, I saw the building that I needed to go to where the concert was being held. I just followed the crowd and kept walking towards the building and I found my way.
After I arrived at the venue, I showed an usher my paper ticket so they could tell me which way I needed to go to find my seat. I found my way towards the balcony section that was printed on my ticket. Then another usher asked me if I needed any help, I laughed and said, “you have no idea, but please help me find my seat.” He showed me to my seat.
I wrote “outbound” on the back of my train ticket so that I would know which way that I needed to go on the train. This helped because I had no confusion going out of Boston on the train because I knew which direction to go. I made it back to my mom's place without any problems. Thank God for that.
The funny thing is, when I used to live in MA, I worked in Boston and commuted from 1978-1986 daily on the subway. I would think that it would be in my long-term memory and I would still remember it. Oh well! The only reason that I can remember these dates is because I stopped working in Boston when I had my second child in Feb. 1986. I know that I worked there for about eight years.
Now I'm trying to train my brain to remember that when I need to ride the train into Boston again to remember Inbound – meaning into Boston. I'm hoping that I will remember that because I have another concert ticket for this same venue coming up in Sept. I know that somehow, I will manage to do this all again because I am very determined to continue to live my life to the fullest, in spite of having a memory impairment!
The next day, I was trying to tell a friend about the concert that I had just been to the night before. I struggled to tell her that it was in Boston and who I went to see. I wished that I could find the words easier, since I had just been there the night before. I think that eventually I remembered but it did take some time to pull the information out of my brain. This is just how my short-term memory works. I can forget things so very quickly. I took lots of pictures and even some videos at this concert. Someday, if I forget that I've been to this concert, I will have the pictures and videos to remind me.
I think that I have a card in my wallet with my name on it and it says that if I seem confused and need help, who they need to contact. I think that I have my daughter’s name and phone number on the card. I have never thought about using it.