More Pumpkins

I love this story of an elderly couple who loved to invite young couples to their house for dinner. They liked to bridge the generation gap and usually had fun during the dinner.

During one of these dinners, a young husband noted how gracious and loving the old man was to his wife, calling her "Darling", "Honey" and "Pumpkin".

While "Pumpkin" was in the kitchen getting coffee, the young man said, "I am impressed with your love for your wife. I think it's wonderful that after all these years you call her those loving pet names."

The old man leaned over and whispered, "I have to tell you the truth. About ten years ago I forgot her name."

That joke gives me more than a giggle! It reminds me of my increasing inability to remember names. Last week, the Kopitiam talk of the community page in The Borneo Post welcomed the absent-minded to the world of a new perspective and enjoy the humour of life this way -

A group of friends were talking about how absent-minded they had become as age caught up with them.

One said she was returning home one sunny afternoon to find her living room unusually dark. She opened all the windows and found that it did not brighten the room at all. She went to switch on the lights, and as she passed by a mirror, she looked at herself wearing sunglasses.

Another housewife is not faring any better. She was making omelette in the kitchen when her son walked in. She wanted to ask if he wanted the egg dish. She saw him playing game on his handphone and she asked this instead: "Do you want to eat handphone?"

Is there any hope for us in the club in the realm of name retrieval or not so absent-minded? Reality says I will experience more "Pumpkins" along my journey, and eat more "handphones" during meals and searching high and low for glasses when they are actually sitting on my nose!

But, dear Lord, may I always remember that -

The eternal God is your (my) refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you (me).
- Deuteronomy 33:27