As we get older, there is a tendency to forget more often. I don't mean those "senior moments", when a word or name is lost for a while, later to be retrieved when no longer required. I mean, longer-term memory, recollections and details about the past. Over the past few years I have noticed that certain key aspects or parts of my life are increasingly drawing a blank, or at best, an inaccurate account of the past. And they are all located at a particular time in my life.

It started with my high school reunion in 2016. At that event I was forgetting the names of people who had been very prominent in my school days. Luckily I had my best friend from that time doing introductions and everyone seemed to know me, so I just nodded and asked the obvious polite questions. I got by but it was disturbing none the less.

Later I sat down and did a house plan for the Killarney Heights home I had lived in for 14 years. I matched it with the actual plan (on a real estate site) and found I had dropped one bedroom, a dining room and one garage from the original floor plan. I knew that something was up, but what.

I have discounted typical brain diseases like dementia because the forgetfulness is quite selective and tied to a period in the early to mid 1970's. My own studies in psychology and readings beyond that suggest that it may be a symptom of PTSD, since that period was one of significant trauma for my family. It may be worth taking further or things might just right themselves. It is a shame to forget a whole chunk of your life, especially a formative one, don't you think?