I'm sending this to you so you can be on the lookout for any
early warning sign. This is serious stuff!
Recently, I was diagnosed with a.a.a.d.d. (Age Activated
Attention Deficit Disorder). This is how it manifests:
I decided to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I
notice that there is mail on the hall table. I decide to go
through the mail before I wash my car. I lay my car keys
down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under
the table, and notice that the trash can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out
the trash first. But then I think, since I'm going to be
near the mailbox when I take out the trash 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 to my desk where I find the bottle of beer
that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checkbook, but first I need to push
the beer aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I
see the beer 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 beer a vase of
flowers catches my eye - they need to be watered. I set the
beer down on the counter and I discover my reading glasses
that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I'd 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, we will be
looking for the remote and nobody will remember it's on the
kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den there
it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I splash some water on the flowers but most 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 car isn't washed, the bills
aren't paid, there is a warm bottle of beer sitting on the
counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one
check in my checkbook, 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 for I know I was busy all day 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 email.
Do me a favor, will you? Send this message to everyone you
know, because I don't remember to whom it has already been
sent!