Sept. 04, 2003 ~ Before the accident
Our friend (who was recently in a motorcycle accident) is recovering nicely. I joke that there must be some lingering brain damage, though, because he is already shopping for another motorcycle. Oh, and a helmet. This time he swears he's going to wear a helemt. Uh-huh. In the ER he swore he would never, ever ride a motorcycle again. Said he would always remember that pain, and nothing on earth was worth that kind of pain. Uh-huh. It's probably like childbirth. At the time, you KNOW you will never, ever give birth again. You'd have to be crazy to even consider it. And then a few weeks later, while you don't exactly forget the "discomfort" (male doctor-speak for "pain"), it gets a little fuzzy. It's history. Maybe you're just remembering it wrong. So, sure enough, you have another baby.
I do give our friend a hard time about wanting the bike, because it's my job to do that. He expects it. He appreciates it. Many of our conversations also have jokes about "Before the accident..." The accident has become our catch-all excuse, the reason why he can no longer do certain things, or do things as well. Sometimes there is a grain of truth there, and it's not meant to be funny. Mostly, though, it's just plain silly. If he forgets the name of something, why, of course he would have remembered, before the accident. If he can't touch his toes, well, obviously, he could have done that before the accident. It's a rule.
My memory is bad. Really bad. It's been not-so-great for a while now. Maybe it's hormonal, maybe it's me, or maybe, just maybe, it's the fibromyalgia. It's a classic symptom, and there's even a name for it... fibro fog. A friend whose memory also gives her fits, is fond of saying "I miss my mind." For me, I think of the old days as "when I had a brain."
So my friend speaks of the time before the accident (BTA); I talk fondly about when I had a brain. And really, it all works out nicely. He could lie through his teeth about his amazing capabilities BTA. For all I know, he could be telling the truth, because chances are (you can see this coming, right?) I wouldn't remember anyway.
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