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★★★★★ (1)
Rated: 13+ · Book · Personal · #2276168

Each day feels new, and my memory of the one before is faint. I’m learning to adapt.

In September 2019, a seizure revealed a lime-sized meningioma pressed against my hippocampus—the part of the brain that governs memory and language. The doctors said it was benign, but benign didn’t mean harmless.

Surgery removed the tumor, and three days later I opened my eyes to a new reality. I could walk, I could talk, but when I looked at my wife, her name was gone. I called her Precious—the only word I could find. A failure of memory, yet perhaps the truest name of all.

Recovery has been less cure than re-calibration. Memory gaps are frequent. Conversations vanish. I had to relearn how to write, letter by halting letter. My days are scaffold by alarms, notes, and calendars.

When people ask how I am, I don’t list symptoms or struggles. I simply say, “Seven Degrees Left of Center.” It’s not an answer—it’s who I’ve become.

March 7, 2026 at 6:10am
March 7, 2026 at 6:10am
#1110021
This morning I sat down with my coffee and told myself it was time to get back to work.

I even used a very official sounding word for it.

Agenda.

That sounded responsible. Organized. Like a man who clearly knows what he is doing with his morning.

The truth is, the last three days did not follow any kind of agenda at all.

My wife decided it was time for us to get out of the house. When your wife has an idea like that, the correct response is not to reach for a calendar or a productivity chart. The correct response is to grab your keys.

So we went.

The writing desk stayed right where it was. The keyboard didn’t complain. The stories didn’t evaporate. They just waited patiently like they always do.

Now I’m back in my chair with my coffee, trying to remember what exactly I thought I was going to accomplish today.

That’s when the word agenda popped into my head again.

Writers like to pretend we have those.

Sometimes we do.

Sometimes the real work is just sitting down, warming up the brain, and figuring out what today’s writing day is supposed to look like.

In other words, sometimes the agenda is no agenda at all.

Apparently the first item on today’s agenda was figuring out what the agenda is.
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