A. A. A. D. D.

"A. A. A. D. D."

My friend was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is his story on 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 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 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!
Received on Thu Jan 18 02:46:21 2007