I had to laugh, because in the few days between my therapist mentioning that I have indicators of Adult ADD and the day we did the actual assessment, I was in the grocery store, shopping while talking to my sister on the phone. I was walking down an aisle and suddenly put on my brakes, almost skidding to a stop. If anyone had been walking close behind me, they would have crashed right into me. Something had caught my eye. It was a key chain covered with shiny pink sequiny-looking things. I laughed as soon as I realized what I’d done, and my sister asked me, “What?”
I said, “I was just distracted by a shiny thing.”
Even though that is a humorous stereotype about ADD/ADHD (see all the items on CafePress that say things like, “I don’t have A.D.D. I’m perfectly focu . . . Ooohhh! Shiny!” [or "Hey, look, a chicken/squirrel/kitty/butterfly"]), I guess it got to be a stereotype due to the fact that it’s evidently often true.
Now I understand why I stare at people’s jewelry while I talk with them, and sometimes even inadvertently interrupt to tell them how pretty or captivating a particular stone is. Funny thing is, I don’t wear much jewelry because it annoys me to feel it against my skin and I will almost constantly fidget with any rings I wear until I become annoying to myself. I mostly just like to admire jewelry on others.
The other day, a man was visiting the office where I work, and he was wearing pretty, sparkly cuff links. Ad he talked, he gestured with his hands. I found my eyes following his cuff links and not really hearing all of what he was saying.
One Saturday a few months ago, I was yard-sale hunting with my sister. I was driving, and we needed to make a U-turn on the main highway where I live. I pulled into the turnaround opening in the median and saw that there were no cars coming, and as I pulled into the lanes going in the other direction, we noticed that a gas station / auto repair business had a bubble machine going in their parking lot. I slowed down to look at the bubbles and suddenly noticed a car rapidly approaching from behind. Fortunately, I saw it in time to hit the gas and get out of the way, but ever since, our private joke when either of us (ok, usually me) is distracted is, “Ooooh! Buuuubbbbles!”
