What’s in a Name?

Pretty much everybody above a certain age complains about forgetting words.  It’s a common curse of getting older. Remembering names is something on which I’ve always prided myself but now that seem to be the thing I’ve lost, more than anything else. I’m not talking about calling my husband or one of our sons by the dog or cat’s name, that’s something I’ve always done. I mean forgetting the name of a well-known actor, a politician, or the man who lives down the road, the guy with whom I stop and talk when I’m out walking. For my husband, it’s phone numbers. When he told somebody how discouraging it is for him not to be able to recall those, he was informed that it’s not important to know them any more, since they’re all in the contact list in our cell phones.  Sounds reasonable, as long as I can come up with the name of the person I want to call!