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 mail box 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 check book 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 see that the Coke is
getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep
it cold.


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 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 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.