OMG, Do I Need Medication? (Suzanne Forster)

I’ve always blamed my tendency to get lost in the aisles of my neighborhood grocery store on being an incurable daydreamer. Actually, daydreaming takes the blame for lots of things in my life. But it may be getting a bum wrap. I learned recently that being directionally challenged is a symptom of a neurological condition that I thought I couldn’t possibly have, simply because I’m a writer. But more about that in a sec.

As you can probably imagine, driving a car can be quite an adventure for someone who gets lost in grocery stores. I tend to go into the zone when I drive, which I also thought was the daydreaming thing. Sounds dangerous, I know, but I’m aware of the road and the other cars, and my driving record is excellent, so I’m probably not a danger, except to myself. Why? Because I end up in places I never intended to go. Sometimes that’s fun. Once I drove to the mall instead of my dentist appointment. But mostly it’s annoying, and occasionally, when the pedestrians are wearing hooded sweatshirts and exchanging little brown bags for money, scary.

Directions are the bane of my existence. I can manage left and right pretty well, but north and south are almost impossible. Forget east and west. I’m always getting on freeways going the wrong way, always taking the wrong exit. I don’t read freeway signs the way other people do. What’s logical to them isn’t logical to me. Every Christmas the dh tells me Santa’s bringing me GPS. I’d be happy with Rudolph.

Rumor had it that my first agent, who was local, told her other authors that Suzanne wasn’t allowed to go to group events without a designated driver. She later admitted it was true, but that actually happened nearly twenty years ago. This has been a problem all my life.

Airports are dangerous for me too. More than once, I’ve boarded planes going to places that weren’t on my ticket. Once I almost ended up in Anchorage, Alaska. I was a little disappointed when they kicked me off that plane. Traveling back to southern Caliornia via Anchorage would have been quite a trip.

So, have you figured out this medical mystery? You’re probably thinking Attention Deficit Disorder, right? That was my guess, but recently in my Yahoo group, we were chatting about having problems with directions, and a member, who’s given me permission to share, mentioned knowing someone who could tell left from right only by looking at the back of her own left hand with the thumb out, which forms an L. She has problems very similar to mine with directions and even more interesting, she could never ride a bike. She wasn’t able to get the rhythm right and often pedaled backward. However, she was, and is, an incredibly bright woman who’s a wizard with computers and technology.

Well, a wizard with computers, I’m not. But I could sure relate to her symptoms. And others in the group described symptoms that also sounded eerily familiar. The one thing they had in common? DYSLEXIA.

Wha? How could I have dyslexia and be a writer? Honestly, I don’t have an answer for you, but the aforementioned folks are all avid readers and it doesn’t seem to have stopped them from devouring the written word. Possibly there are different kinds of dyslexia? I’m not aware of transposing letters, but I’ve been transposing numbers for years. I look right at them, but flip them when I write them down. 01 becomes 10. Seems as if that could be enough to send me into directional spin cycles.

All I can tell you is I don’t feel quite so much the odd duck now. There are others out there like me! Obviously, I don’t wish dyslexia on anyone. I know it’s a heartbreaking problem for millions, especially children struggling with reading and focus difficulties. But I have to admit, it was a relief to hear of symptoms even more exotic and bizarre than my own—and to know that people are not only coping, but achieving great things and having successful lives.

So, do I need medication? People who know me well would probably love to give me a reality pill, lol. Since I’ve made it this far, odds are I won’t be taking anything for the dyslexia, if that is what I have. However, if I don’t show up for a book signing, you’ll know why. I’m probably driving north when I should be going south—and if nobody stops me, I may end up in Alaska after all.

Suz