's MOTD 3/30/2006

[Guest guest]

's Daily Message ThursdayMarch 30, 2006SCATTERED

When I was a kid, my mind raced all over the place. I had a very hard time focusing in school. I loved school, but I had a serious learning problem. I just couldn`t concentrate on one thing. My problem was I concentrated on a lot of things at the same time. I was always antsy in class. I cut up so the other kids didn`t know I was so scattered.

The thought of doing homework made me frustrated. I would sit at my desk in my room and just stare at all the pages of chapters I would have to read. I read about a page, and then I`d quickly get distracted. I would get up and go in the kitchen and get a few oatmeal cookies and a coke to bring back to my desk. I thought if I ate a little something, I`d get smarter. After I finished my snack, I would attempt to read another page, but soon, I would lose interest in what I was reading, and I`d go over to my record player and put on a 45 I just bought.

Not only was I suffering from a lack of self-esteem because of my girth; I was also given a whacked out brain! I didn`t have anyone to talk to about this except my mom. She told me I was very bright and that my only problem was I didn`t know how to focus. "Honey," Shirley would say, "If you have 5 things to do and you try to do them all at the same time, you will never get them all done! Do one, and do it the best you can, and then do all the rest the same way." Sometimes she would sit with me with her arm around my shoulders and read along with me. When she was there beside me, I would work extra hard to do one thing the best I could so she could be proud of me.

There are times my old habits come back and I try to do too many projects simultaneously. When that happens, I remember the words my mother spoke to me as I sat there next to her with her arm around my shoulder.

Love,