&uot;Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most&uot;. It’s a saying I can relate to more and more these days.

While I hear my older friends joke about having ‘senior moments’, I’m busy asking myself if there is such a thing as ‘Middle-Aged Moments’.

I sure seem to be having a lot of them.

I blame it on a crazy, mixed-up modern world in which we are constantly bombarded with an overload of information from televisions, radios, computers, satellites, cell phones, beepers, land phones and fax machines.

Anyone else feel overwhelmed?

I guess I suffer from a low-tech brain blind-sided by a high-tech world. I’d go nuts strictly working in a computer environment day in, day out.

That’s why I like my job.

It requires me to get out and meet people face to face.

One of my favorite writing assignments is the personal profile. Whenever possible, I prefer actually meeting someone when I’m profiling them.

Sometimes deadlines, scheduling problems or long miles apart simply don’t allow it, so I make do with phone calls, e-mails and letters.

But when I can, I like to be able to shake hands, make eye contact, hear their voice, watch their body language.

It helps me when I begin to create a word picture for our readers.

To me, my job is an honor.

I get the privilege of learning what’s important in the lives of the good people in our community.

We laugh together. Sometimes, we cry together. I listen.

I take notes and snap photographs, look through scrapbooks and old photos, and I chat.

But mostly, I listen.

I’ve come to think everyone has a story to tell.

I also think people need to talk.

(Why do you think so many folks pay therapists umpteen dollars for the privilege?)

They need somebody who will listen but won’t turn around to blab it all to every Tom, Dick and Harriet.

If you have a story you want to share, be it great family recipes, a cause that you are committed to, or a job or hobby that brings you great satisfaction—let me know. I think a good story is a wonderfully old-fashioned thing to discover in this crazy, new-fangled world.

Even my ornery, middle-aged brain can handle that.

Just a few words about this weekend: busy, busy, busy.

We have the May Day celebration and Notre Dame presentation and party, ACS Cancer Survivors Luncheon, Trash and Treasure Sale and much more.

Who says there’s nothing going on in Greenville? See you at everything I can get to.

Angie Long is a staff writer and columnist for the Greenville Advocate.

She may be reached by e-mail at along@alaweb.com or you may call and leave a message at 334.382.5145.