A strange thing happend once, years ago, after I took some Halcion to help me sleep. Apparently, sometime after taking the med, I made a cup of hot chocolate and took it into the living room, where I managed to drop the mug, breaking it and spilling the drink all over the sofa and carpet.

The next morning I had absolutely no memory of it. None. I wouldn’t even know about it except that my son was there and told me. He pointed out where the spills were and showed me the broken mug in the trash.

Weird, but I didn’t worry about it. It only happened once (that I remember!).

Now it seems to have happened again, this time after taking Ambien. When I got up this morning I found a cheesecake box on the kitchen counter. I bought it yesterday. My first thought was, “Damn, did I forget to put that in the fridge yesterday?” I picked up the box; it was empty. Then I noticed the dirty plate and fork.

“Nahhh, I didn’t eat that,” I thought. I specifically remembered putting the package of pork chops on top of the cheesecake last night, so I would remember to cook them today. I didn’t open the cheesecake because I’d already had a sweet snack and was not in the mood for more. Instead, I grabbed a piece of Hawaiian bread. That was to be it before I went to bed.

I looked in the fridge, and sure enough, there was the unboxed cheesecake, with the pork chops set to the side.

I have absolutely no memory of opening that cheesecake, much less eating it. I haven’t looked under the cover yet, for fear I may have eaten more than one piece. I suppose if I had finished it, the empty pan would have been on the counter or in the trash.I live alone now, so there’s no one but the cat to tell me what happened. It’s disturbing, so say the least. Security concerns come to mind immediately.

Guess I’ll be keeping Ambien at arm’s length from now on.