I woke up with, for no good reason, a certain word on the tip of my tongue that I just couldn’t find. There was nobody around to talk to. My movement was a little more stiff and shambly than it normally is first thing in the morning. I clumsily fed the cats, staggered outside with coffee, all the time trying to find this word that was stuck in the mouth of my mind and wouldn’t come out. It was more frustrating than that sort of thing should reasonably be. Within an hour I was maddened by it. Why couldn’t I find and form the word? I find and form words for a living. It was driving me batshit.

Two hours later, I found the word.

It was “aphasia.”