I was just reading through one of our ADDer World Social Network Forum Topics, which has brought a smile to our faces and, maybe a cringe of recognition from time to time: You know you have ADD ADHD when… I almost fell out of my chair when I read about Gary’s struggles with locking his key in his Van and therefore needing to climb through the back hatch! Lucky the back hatch was open. It seems he remembers to keep the back hatch open perhaps for a reason, which has reminded me of the time when I was first dating Joan…
My old Toyota Corolla was an extremely reliable car. I loved my TC, I purchased it when it was just a year old in 1996 and finally turned ‘er in last year and never, in the 12 years we were together (yes, a bit too intimate I know) did she ever break down on me, ever! I loved that car, Betsy I called her, but I didn’t always treat her as well as I should have and often waited until the bright red light came on that the oil was low, before I would give her the oil she so deserved and the light usually came on while driving a stretch of highway with no gas station nearby and, in true ADDer Fashion, I naturally didn’t have any oil reserved in the trunk. No, no matter how many times I was caught with that light flashing I always forgot to buy reserve oil, in all the years we were together, I never did. This is emotional, I know.
Back when I was first dating Joan, you know, in the phase of trying to impress her with my cool, suave demeanor (ha!) we were enjoying a fantastic trip to a theme park with her son and my niece and nephew along, but on a certain stretch of highway (you know the stretch, the one without any gas stations!) that red light came on! Oh that wasn’t cool. So I kind of freaked out thinking I was finally going to blow my engine and it was with great relief that we made it to the nearest town with a gas station. Whew! All was well… so I thought. When we got to the gas station the kids, Joan and I went in to the restaurant part and decided to get a few drinks. Unfortunately, while sitting in our booth a familiar realization came over me: I left the keys in the ignition and wouldn’t you know it, the doors were locked! Oh, I was becoming extremely impressive, so cool, not!
Okay, it wasn’t like I hadn’t been in the old, ‘I locked the keys in the car’ syndrome a hundred times before, trust me the oil light is just the tip of the iceberg, you don’t know the half of it. Betsy and I have been through a lot. Back on track, I knew what to do: I had already devised a plan to open the back window in a manner I only knew about. In the past, I had been stuck so many times that I had created a way to open the back window by reaching through a piece of rubber and turning a certain nut and bolt, but as I stood outside against my car (hiding what I was doing with my jacket) I could not quite get my finger tips around the nut in order to turn it. I had done it so many times in the past and it always worked like a charm, but this time it just wasn’t working. What I didn’t realize is that Joan had a perfectly clear view of me from the restaurant window and I didn’t realize a police car had pulled up behind me! In my effort to be cool and not let Joan and the kids know what I had done gone and done, I guess I must have looked like I was t
