Am I Getting Alzheimer's?

Is this the age when people start to worry about Alzheimer's? Or am I more sensitive because my father died of Alzheimer's? I'm always comparing myself to younger people...I find myself saying, "Oh good, if a 40-year-old does such and such (insert some idiotic forgetful thing I just did) then surely I don't have Alzheimer's."

I also tend to perk my ears to any Alzheimer's news I hear on TV or the radio. Recently I heard that Alzheimer's is genetically linked through the mother. "Oh good," I say to myself, "My mother definitely does not have Alzheimer's" But then I hear stuff that makes me realize that, in many ways, my father did not have many of the risk factors I hear about and still he got it. All the promising medications to prevent Alzheimer's are still in trials. How would you qualify to join a trial to prevent Alzheimer's? Wouldn't you need some criteria to join such a trial? I'm thinking that walking into an Alzheimer's research center and telling them I want to take their preventative medication because I worry that I have it isn't going to sell. Yet it seems that the researchers say that the drug only works if you start taking it before the symptoms show up.

Two recent foibles have renewed my concerns. First, about a week ago as I got ready for work, I used my curling iron to curl my hair. After a full day of seeing clients as I washed my hands after my final restroom trip before leaving, I noticed that I had not combed out my hair, styled, or sprayed it. I couldn't believe I had done that and couldn't understand how I had not noticed it earlier in the day.

Then just this morning after getting dressed, curling combing, styling, and spraying my hair, I was finishing off my make-up, I realized my blouse was on inside-out. Whew! At least I noticed before going to work. But it was scary to realize how easily I could have missed it.

The bottom line is, worry won't stop me from getting Alzheimer's. In fact, I realize I've allowed myself to worry about far too many aging things. Not just a bad back or getting Alzheimer's. I worry about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I even worry about the political garbage going on in Washington. Today I decided this worry has to stop! I think of a song I learned early in my life in Sabbath School. "Brighten the Corner Where You Are." My New Year's resolution this year is to be a Light and a Loving Presence to my little clients. Nothing satisfies me more than that. And perfect Love casts out Fear!