Family Ties

Even in my family, I'm not alone with having a different mind.

Both of my brothers fit into "categories" like I do. My sister doesn't, but that in itself makes her different among the four of us.

My oldest brother, N. for privacy, grew up when ADD was just being classified. He was one of the first in America to receive the diagnosis. He could have been who they based the concept of ADD on, for that matter. Even today, only two things keep his attention--sports and music.

A. was next in line. He was a very smart, energetic preschooler. But he hated any sort of stimulation. Especially light and touch. A. and I got along on that point quite well. And even though he could ride his bike at three years old, he struggled with learning to drive years later. After some recent research, I think he might have some form of Sensory Processing Disorder.

C. is one of my best friends. She is the most average of the family, but she does have some slight difficulties with social interaction on occasion. For her, though, she can ignore it. She plays sports year round, and was the only girl allowed on the boys' baseball team in middle school.

Then came the youngest, almost fourteen years after C. and twenty after N. I was so different from everyone else in the family, I'm always surprised that I wasn't recognized as very different from the whole population earlier on.