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Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. Age Activated Attention
Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over
at my car and decide my car needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I
notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mailbox
earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car
keys down on the table, put the junk
mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I
decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But
then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage
anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table,
and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in
the study, so I go inside the house to my desk, where I find the can of Coke
that I had been drinking. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to
push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I
realize the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the
refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a
vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set
the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been
searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but
first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the
counter, fill a container with water, and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone
left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I
will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen
table, so
I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the
flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the
floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up
the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to
do.
At the end of the day:
The driveway is flooded,
The car isn't washed,
The bills aren't paid,
There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,
There is still only one check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
And I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled,
because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is
a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my
e-mail.
Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I
don't remember who I have sent it to.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!
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