A Mistake, Retrieved from the Jaws of ADHD
The following direct quote from one of my emails speaks for itself. In it, I apologize to Martha Crawford, whose Dream Workshop I had signed up for, but ‘missed.’ It’s a very short read, but it tells you everything about what sufferers of ADHD feel almost every day of their lives. And it made me laugh with such love for myself.
For that alone, it qualifies as an entry in the 100 Days of Gladness.
“MARTHA!
I am so mad at myself. Once again, a proven ADHD sufferer, all day yesterday (the actual Wednesday), it was Tuesday for me, and I kept thinking how much I looked forward to the Dream Workshop which would be happening ‘tomorrow.’ And I just woke up at 3am with a migraine, realizing it was actually Thursday now, and I’d missed the whole thing. I’d been looking forward to this for weeks. Just writing you to say, “SHIT.”
That’s all. I will be there next week, April 3rd, because I will set alarms and put notes around the house.
p.s. Okay, I was wrong. It actually was Tuesday yesterday. But I’m sending this email anyway, for comic relief. Hope it makes you laugh as hard as it did me. When I wrote “be there next time, April 3rd,” I checked my calendar to make sure it would be April 3rd, I realized that — HOORAY! — I didn’t miss it at all! And yes, I will be there tonight, Wednesday, March 27th, and April 3rd, etc.”
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If you were confused reading that email, welcome to my world. Friends who know me well understand that if I’m going to meet them somewhere, they will need to remind me the day before, AND the day of, the event. And even then, I might miss it, or be an hour early, or show up exactly on time, but on the wrong day.
A great, warm, forbearing, forgiving, and tender hug now, to all who live with ADHD, and who have managed their way around it all their lives — especially the ones my age, for whom (for most of their lives) there was no diagnosis or explanation for this idiosyncrasy.
And, of course, a hug for those of you who have to live with us. You, too, have to navigate and compensate for and solve this Rubik’s Cube of human behavior.
Almost every day.
Gladness for your presence, too, in our lives.