Sometimes She Forgets

Sometimes she forgets who is who.  Like sextuplets, she seems to mistake one for the other who is similar looking, although distinctly different.

My mama has 6 kids.  As kids, when she was mad at one of us, she would sometimes forget who we were mid-squabble and call me 'Camille'.  Sometimes it was 'Cherise', sometimes it was even 'Ariel'- my niece's name.  And then as I was being chastized I would remind her: "Cambria- I am Cambria, mom".  And her reply was always the same-

"You know what I meant"

And I did.  I was just being bratty.  But it usually ended our disagreement as she blushed with slight embarassment, and I chuckled at her feistiness.

And she does it everytime I see her.  My mom forgets that I am the daughter that isn't a huge fan of cheese.  So I walk into her cozy single story home that rests at the bottom of the cul-de-sac, and her eyes open wide and in her most earnest Julia Child reminiscence she will say "I got the most fantastic cheese from the store today" and she will race toward that white refrigerator to pull it out.

I know this one well.  We have been acting this scene out the last several weeks since she "discovered" this Scandinavian cheese.

"It's havarti and it's fantastic!"

"No thanks, mom.  I don't care much for cheese"

"You don't??  Oh....  You sure? It's fantastic!" and she will take that cube of cheese and make that mmm, mmm, mmm, sound as she bites into the share she cut for me.

We will play these roles again soon, I am sure.

But one of my favorites is when she forgets who she did what with.  We were recently somewhere beautiful and scenic and she asked me, "doesn't this remind you of when we went to Jamaica?"  and I will have to tell her "I wouldn't know, I've never been."  And she will stare blankly at me for a moment, looking right at me but lost in memory.  And if I count quietly in my head, "one...two...three" she will suddenly have it and laugh.  "OH!!  I'm sorry.  That was Corbin".

And last week as we watched a movie trailer for the film "A Perfect Getaway" she exclaimed: "OH THAT WAS GOOOOD- did you see it?"

To which I coyly responded: "Why yes.  I saw it with my mom."

She doesn't purposely forget.  She, like me, just doesn't think before she speaks, so in that sense I can forgive her.  She is a woman with a social calendar that would put Brangelina to shame.  She's got a whole lot going on and a whole mess of kids and grandkids to do it with.  I know it doesn't mean she loves us any less.  Or, I hope not anyway.