Today, a nurse visited our house on behalf of an insurance company.

Margaret and I are taking out what’s called “long term health insurance” in case either or both of us ever have to go to a nursing home. We’re realists about this, and the last thing we want is to be a burden on our children, who will have their own challenges.

The agent had said the nurse’s visit is to make sure we are real persons, still active, and not a few weeks away from needing to go into assisted living. Makes sense.

She was nice, asked the typical questions about our health histories, that sort of thing. Then, she threw me a curve.

“I’m going to give you a list of ten words,” she said. “Repeat each one after me. At the end, repeat back as many of the ten as you can.”

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