Now Where Did I Put That?
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 it needs washing. As I
start toward the garage I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from
the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I
lay my car keys 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 I'd 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. The Coke is
getting warm, so I decide to 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 water. I put the Coke
on the counter and 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 as I
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on
the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV I'll 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 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 can of
Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers don't have enough water, there is
still only 1 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 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.