Getting older can be like getting behind at accounting. The crux of the matter, the impression so vital you must never forget it is buried somewhere under a detritus of receipts--uncollected thoughts. You settle for a memory of a memory of a thing. And the removes multiply, getting more grotesque, less pertinent to the real intent vitality in others. You must with all your might fight against this. It will win in the end, but you can certainly fend it off for a time.