How Our Family Uses Mnemonics

When I was a young girl, my grandpa taught me about word association. He told me when he needed to remember someone's name, he would try to think of something associated with that name. I've always remembered my grandpa's tip and still use it when necessary.

As my children went through school and were required to memorize assignments, I taught them the word association technique. Once, on a car trip, Katelyn brought along her homework (She's the only child of mine who would actually take homework on a vacation) and the rest of the family brainstormed to help her memorize the capital cities of all 50 states. Baton Rouge, Louisiana still stands out in my mind. We helped her remember it by thinking "Loise has too much rouge on her cheeks."

A couple of years ago, when Katelyn was going through pharmacy school, she and I came up with some unique and often funny ways she could remember the names of generic drugs. One of the drugs that I recall Katelyn learning is Levetiracetam. It's the generic drug for Keppra, something Cody takes for seizure control. Levetiracetam was one of the more difficult words to remember, so we got ridiculously creative and came up with, "Tyra (Banks) had to leave and try to seat them." ( Levetiracetam = Leave and Tyra seat 'em) Katelyn will never look at Tyra Banks the same way, but more importantly, she will never forget Keppra's generic equivalent.

Yesterday, Katelyn was trying to remember a friend's birthday. She thought it was on the 9th day of the month, but found out via facebook that it's actually the 10th. I offered this suggestion to her, "Your birthday is on the 16th, an even number. Nine is an odd number. Just remember that your friend's birthday can't be on the 9th, because it's an even number like yours."

At that point, Katelyn stated, "That's how I remember your birthday mom. When I was little, you told me I could remember your birthday is on the 29th because it's odd, just like you."

Less THAN Perfect

I do not claim to know everything about the English language. With all the rules of proper grammar, it is easy to get confused. I also realize that everyone, including me, makes mistakes. With that said, I will share with you something I have become increasingly aware of and that's the misuse of the words than and then. I have seen the two words confused on blogs, YouTube, song lyrics and even my post yesterday by Erma Bombeck. In one of her paragraphs, Erma says, "There is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect." I didn't change then to than, because I was quoting Erma, but I saw the error right away. I also saw the irony in her less than perfect sentence. Then I began thinking, if Erma Bombeck is capable of confusing the words then and than, do I really know how to use them properly? I decided to search Google and found a few websites that have worksheets and quizzes. I've included one of the links, if you would like to test your knowledge of the then and than rule.

Then Vs Than Worksheets Worksheets

In Erma's defense, because it's an uplifting piece of writing and has been reposted many times over the years, the mistake most likely was made by somebody other than her.

Claustrophobia

The first time I learned of my husband's claustrophobia was about 20 years ago. We had been camping in a small trailer that had foil across the back window where the bed was located. Don was sleeping on the inside of the bed, near the back wall, and I was sleeping on the outside so I could get up and down easily with the kids, or to pee, but that's irrelevant. The point is, Don woke up during the night and couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black and he darn near killed me as he climbed on and over my sleeping body to get out.

A few years ago, we learned that Don has Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. His neurologist wanted to see if the MS has progressed or stayed the same, so she ordered an MRI last week. I am quite amazed that he was even able to get in that machine!

The good news is, Don's MRI showed absolutely no change. Yay!