Katie Did

“Who put back an empty cereal box, milk carton, chips bag?”

“Who tracked mud and grass through the house?”

“Who left all the lights on in the basement, living room, garage?”

After all these years, why do I still ask? I know who did it. I know who is oblivious to much of life around him. Why am I disappointed that ‘somebody’ still hasn’t noticed my new glasses after five days?

Single focused. Unaware of surroundings. Forgetful. Preoccupied. Withdrawn. Aspie.

Charles Kettering was an American inventor who held over 180 patents. He is most well-known for inventing electric starter motors, ignitions and lighting systems for cars, spark plugs, safety glass, automatic transmissions, quick drying automotive paint, leaded gasoline, Freon for refrigeration and air conditioning, electric cash registers, and incubators for premature babies. He founded the Kettering Foundation for research, and co-founded the Delco Company and the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Brilliant man, gifted engineer and researcher, phenomenal inventor.

But his wife would have to remind him to eat, and check him on his way out the door to make sure he wasn’t wearing pajama bottoms with his suit coat. Gosh, does that sound familiar?

We all have our own quirks and foibles. We are all uniquely individual. As long as I hold no specific expectations about my husband’s actions or reactions, I will never be disappointed.

One of my favorite Kettering quotes is:

“My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.”

Ah yes, the future. We can do nothing about the past except learn from it. We should be living for the future.

But he really sums up an Aspie’s life in a nutshell.

“There is a great difference between knowing and understanding; you can know a lot about something and not really understand it”

How well I know that. And I think I’m beginning to understand it!