My best friends grandmother had a 69 cutlass. The driver side was pristine, but the passenger side was all beat up. She was aware enough to keep her distance on the driver side, but not the passenger side.

My buddy has been doing it forever. I finally started telling him when Ive heard a story 10 times so now he realizes that he is doing it and usually stops himself. Sometimes he cant help it and tells the stories anyway. He is the best friend a guy could have so I try to overlook it. I am sure I have some bad habits also.

Not necessarily.
"Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, while Alzheimer's is a specific disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia." https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/difference-between-dementia-and-alzheimer-s
I deal with a lot of older folks (70-85 years old) in my job. A number of them are at the stage in aging that the are reverting back to childhood in their mental state (think Bell Curve). They get scared or agitated very easily. They also are lonely and will try to extend the phone call to have someone to talk to. They also want to feel needed or important. We spend a lot of time having to validate that their opinion matters.

IMO telling old 'war stories' of the 'good old days' is just wanting to not be left out. I would be more concerned if the story started changing.

Bad eyesight and depth perception. You will notice that elderly drivers like the left lane because they can see where the lane ends. The right side of the car is too far away and they can't see down to the ground so their depth perception of where the lane ends is harder to calculate. They are more likely to misjudge the right side of the car.

There's a few things going on there.

Everyone knows that elderly relative that remembers every story, every name, and every detail from their early life, but can't remember what they had for lunch.

There's another thing where - you collect your best stories and you get good at telling them.

Perhaps your coworker has a combo plate of the two.

Your job is to be kind so that people will be kind to you when you don't realize you're doing it too.

That reminds me of this one time when I

Nope. He's trolling you, bro.

^this. Which is why I put in the time to create new stories.

If I ever get to meet you Dixie I think we might cook up a good one! SmileWavy

I tell repeat stories some to people and they are kind thankfully. As noted it's a gift to the story teller when folks just listen.

(Most repeated story) Tom, who is ten years older than me was a bus mechanic and headed up the maintenance/custodial crew at a school run by nuns. I don't know if it was a convent but the nuns lived there. A call came in a toilet was leaking. Guy goes out. No leak Tom goes out. No leak. Sister, this is not leaking. She says, it does when you lean back on it.

What do you call looking for your phone in a frenzy like I did the other night at the Chinese take out place and was telling peeps there I can't believe I lost it and just had it - the young lady says isn't that your phone in your hand?

Thank you for the compliment. :)

The eyeglasses thing on top of your head.

thx for sharing Zeke. some good info. take care.

When my Mom really started to "lose it" her long term primary care doc attributed it to her history of heart issues. Vascular Dementia. Blood supply issues to the brain kill off cells. Some 8 or so years later and she's a mess. Has lost most of her memory and the delusions are getting pretty creative. She is really starting to lose her language as well.

I have a buddy who is 65. One of my best friends. He has been telling the same stories over and over since I've known him. He has a great heart, but is one of those guys who has to be the one talking in a group of people. We just laugh at him and give him crap about it.

This was my dad's car. His house had a side driveway leading into the garage.

I'm 73 and I'm beginning to dislike driving at night. I have a 944 Porsche and getting in/out of that thing is a PITA. I'm not a nimble as I use to be.

Dementia is definitely not telling the same stories over and over again. That's just a sign of someone with limited material in their hard drive who always wants to share. We have people here who have been telling the same 4 or 5 stories for 20 years. I have a friend who has been doing it since he was young...we started holding up fingers to indicate how many times he's already told the current story. At least that made it mildly amusing.

I've unfortunately had plenty of experience with real dementia in my family, all on my mom's side. It's like a bad acid trip where my mother, for instance, thinks that she was still married to my father instead of her current husband at the time of ~40 years. She got mad at him and threatened him that her husband is a lawyer when she was actually talking to her husband, not the lawyer she divorced 50 years ago. That would be one of the milder stories of complete break from reality that dementia patients suffer from. We would have been over the moon grateful if she simply told boring stories repeatedly, the dementia killed her in a relatively short time.

Getting forgetful is not dementia, it's simply getting old.

71 here and the new LEDs on approaching cars are murder at night! I have to avert my eyes or I lose vision for a moment.

You need cataract surgery!