Attention Deficit Disorder? Check.

Got it. Did I always have it? Nah. It was brought on in a mild version after the birth of three children. After the birth of the fourth it was kicked into high gear and I probably should be on meds for it. But, somehow I manage to get four people (sometimes five) out the door daily, so I am what doctors I suppose would call "functional." ;o)


I read a funny article in the restroom the other morning. Love to read the paper. Love it, but rarely do it. And when I do it's in the restroom - not USING the restroom, but rather hiding in there for refuge. Y'know, like the song, "Give me refuge?" The author was a mother of TWO (ha! like she should have any disease) boys - one of whom was "on the spectrum." That's one of my pet peeve words "on the spectrum" - it's like "uber." How could we use those together in a sentence? I'll think on that and get back to you. ANYWAY, I'd read similar amusing articles like hers before. Going to put a toy away, see a sock, wind up in the laundry room putting a toy in the washer, and so on. The thing I'd not heard was the wrap up. Either you are thinking, "Wow! That is JUST like my life." OR you are thinking, "Wow! This woman is INSANE. How does she function???" That made me laugh.


And it got me thinking, seriously...how do I function? As pure luck would have it - after all I have dedicated the month of March (as soon as I found out it WAS March) to good writing since I have been writing awful drivel since January - I had a pretty writable day yesterday.

So, today's post is a wrap-up of yesterday appropriately titled "ADD." Here goes.

Malcolm had a presentation on Carson Elementary TV at 8:00 a.m., so mission before 8:00 was Get Out of the House Clothed. That was going off without a hitch. We all arrived (clothed) at school BEFORE 8:00. Can I get an amen? I got to be Proud Mama while my son received a prestigious award for a photograph he had submitted last year sometime (that the PTA lost - oh, well) and a medal worthy of Mr. T. Okay, so we are rolling - no ADD present. SMACK DOWN. That's when I somehow managed to scoop baby off the library floor after she hurled her milk at one of the teachers and had a holy hell melt-down (much to the amusement of several onlooking fifth graders) on the ground, quickly retrieve Malcolm's award, and forget his camera somewhere in there. I carried all my stuff and baby who by this time was doing her best to scare the school, out as quickly as possible.

I realized when I got to the Yukon that I had forgotten said camera (which contained the only record of the day since the PTA so graciously LOST the actual photograph that was the winning item) in the library. So, I grabbed baby again (because I don't want to go to jail for leaving baby in the vehicle) and trudged back in the school. Amazingly, no one had seen the camera???? What the heck? It had been like two minutes?

Okay. No biggie. Until I got to the dentist about two hours later and was thinking about how mad my son was going to be. Ugh. So, I am at the dentist making arrangements to see the new pediatric dentist and thinking about how this is really going to stink....telling my son I lost his camera. But, we should all live through it. The day wore on....painfully. I addressed about 25 envelopes for work, completed the grocery list for today, did two prints, worked out, took a shower, did two loads of laundry, (I had no kids - which is why my ADD was at bay and I was actually able to get a few things done) made a few phone calls for work and a few for the pure joy of talking to friends that I only get to talk to when there is an "emergency" or when I have free time (HELLO? free time???), and called Ed to tell him that I had lost Malcolm's camera - oh, and I answered an email from the art teacher at my son's school who had inquired about the camera and told me she would alert "all the staff at Carson" to be on the lookout for the camera. Ugh. The embarrassment. I spent about three hours of the day (if totaled up) thinking regretfully about losing my son's camera.

So, 3:00 p.m. Malcolm skips off the bus and I say to him, "So, did anyone give you your camera?" He says something like, "No, that would be weird. Why would anyone give me my camera?" I say, "Well, because I had like the whole school looking for it after I left it in the library this morning. I am so sorry." And he says, "MOM, I picked it right off the table in the library and put it in my backpack. Didn't you see me?" Doh!

So, lessons of the day? Too many to list. Teach responsibility. Your kids might actually listen and heed. Don't beat yourself up. Don't put off dental appointments for yourself or any family members even if you have other things on your mind. Work-out it will get your mind focused if only for 45 minutes. And, possibly the most important: Do not let your ADD get the best of you. Nine times out of ten you will be obsessing and ADDing about something that didn't even happen.