I am exercising my right to be a freak of nature again, baffling doctors as I go. Right now they are trying to find the root cause for a body quirk I’ve had my entire life.
Until a conversation with my dad on Father’s Day, I never realized that having my knee randomly buckle (I call it giving way because it feels like my muscles randomly mutiny) isn’t normal. My GP sent me to a specialist, who sent me to neurology, who sent me to orthopedics. It was the medical version of
I’m back to my GP, who has a theory that doesn’t hurt or involve surgery, so I’m going to try it out for a while.
It’s not just medical oddities, although I have many, that leave me scratching my head when people do things that evidently are how the rest of the world does things. Among the list of things I’ve wondered in just the last week are “how do people…:
- Listen to music with words and concentrate? While normally I prefer silence for heavy duty pondering, sometimes that itself can be a distraction. Instrumental music is the next best thing.
- Sit still and think? I’m a pacer when I need to work things out. When I’m mentally stuck at the office, I’ll get up and take a lap – notebook in hand so I won’t forget my insight if it comes when I’m farthest from my desk.
- Not view the day as basically over at noon? By the time the sun hits its zenith, my best work for the day is over. Of course I can still be productive in the afternoon, but if a creative solution is required, that is best left for morning work. Afternoons are time to push through with grunt work. Forever a morning person!
Maybe one day it will sink in that I am the one that is abnormal. I get that on a logical level, but since this is how I see the world, part of me still thinks it’s everyone else that is off.
Grown Up, Now What? 