I pulled up in front of the gym downtown at 5:23 p.m. and began scoping the street for an empty parking spot.  The only one I saw available was situated in a section marked with a sign that read “No parking between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.” “Great,” I thought.  Knowing that the parking attendant in this area of town was widely known for being a little trigger happy with his ticketing, even if there was only seven minutes left until parking was allowed.  I parked my car and headed into the gym for my CrossFit class.  When it was done, I found myself standing on the sidewalk staring at an empty space by a sign that read “No parking between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.”   My heart sank.  I pulled out my phone and called my husband. “My car has been towed.  Can you call and see if you can find out where they took it?”  I hung up, after a few moments of lecturing, and hailed a cab.  I opened the rear passenger door, got in, and recited the address to my house.  The cab pulled forward about 40 feet and stopped at a red light.  As I looked out the driver’s side window, there sat my car.  Parked across the street.  I shook my head at myself and informed the cab driver I’d be getting out.  He looked at me in the rear view mirror, confused.   I asked if there was any charge, he said “No.”  Probably out of shock.  He likely thought I was crazy.  I slid out of the right side door and trotted across the street to my car. If I hadn’t dreaded calling my husband to admit my little mishap, I probably would have burst into laughter. They say the memory is the first things to go, right?  Okay, they say that about a lot of things (whoever they are).  But the fact was, I didn’t used to be so forgetful.  I made a note (literally, on a piece of paper) to call and schedule an appointment with my doctor for my yearly check-up the next morning – yes I’d been forgetting to do that too, for weeks. When I finally got to talk with him, he gave me a few suggestions to help boost my memory from a health point of view. Stay mentally active.  Mental stimulation helps to not only preserve, but create new connections in your brain.  Reading, learning something new, playing games that make you think more in depth than you do on a daily basis, all keep your mind sharper. Eat a heart healthy diet.  Because what’s good for your heart is good for your brain. Enough said. But he also stated that Omega-3 fatty acid helps to promote the health of the membrane of brain cells or act as an antioxidant and it has other benefits, so it can’t hurt. Exercise.  Apparently you can actually stimulate the development of new brain cells with physical activity.  Who knew? Take time to socialize. Research suggests that having a large network of social interactions helps to maintain good brain function and even delay Alzheimer’s disease. I guess maybe it’s time I took that class I’ve been thinking about to finish up my master’s degree.  I can kill three of these birds with one stone: learn something new, socialize, and ride my bike to class and back.  Now…if I could just remember where I put my bike, I’d be set.