i can't remember my niece's name!

Peri-menopausal brain-freeze, becoming a muddle-head or a mush-mind, whatever you want to call it, kind of sneaks up on you. After turning 40,  I began to forget computer passwords at work, misplace those darn reading glasses even more, forget why I had entered a certain room, (or why I had left it for that matter).  Something was very wrong. Was it early-onset Alzheimers, dementia, or a brain tumor? I'm serious - I was really scared.  I had always been fairly "sharp", on top of things, and generally quick-witted. Now I was having trouble remembering simple things. What on earth was going on?  The brain lapses weren't constant, either. Sometimes I functioned just fine, but at other times...

One day at work, I was daydreaming, (I did that occasionally). I was thinking something about my niece, and I could picture her in my mind, but I could not remember her name! This was my dear, beautiful niece, my first niece, my goddaughter, for crying out loud! I knew mid-life could bring about the dreaded hot-flashes, increased moodiness, decreased libido, whatever. But I had not expected my new traveling companion, "old foggy-brain". He visited quite often during the following years!