Odd Lapse

I had a strange and somewhat disturbing experience last week. Every week, I login to my bank account to make sure there is enough in my checking account to pay the checks I have signed recently. I have had this account for over five years and have followed this routine for about the same period of time. I thought my account number was by now imprinted in my brain because I have typed it so many times. Just like you don't forget your name, phone number or address you don't forget a number you see and use so frequently.

So this past Friday, when I was at the website trying to login, my mind suddenly blanked out the account number. I was able to remember some digits but not the whole number. It was as if parts of it has been erased from my memory. After ten failed attempts to log in, I gave up in disturbed state of mind. Was this a problem with memory going spread to other areas of my life and come about just as unexpectedly ? Would I fail to remember things that I take for granted ?

I worried about my strange lapse of memory all day even as I tried to steer my mind away from it and focus on the day's work. One the drive back home, I was thinking about the errant account number once again. I still had trouble believing that I could not remember it. Then at a stop sign a couple of blocks away from home, the number suddenly came back - just as inexplicably as it had disappeared. The parts of it that had been erased had magically reappeared. I now the whole sequence of numbers.

As soon as I reached home, I went on-line to check if I had remembered correctly and I had. It was immensely relieving to say the least but it still did not explain the lapse from earlier in the day. Clearly, my memory needs some help these days and if something as simple as doodling can help, I am all for it.