Chicago, Chicago

Returned from Robin’s to find the city ravaged by a freak storm. I love storms, but this one had 90 mile an hour winds and much of the area is still without power. A nice side effect is that Mike got to stay home today. There is no power at his place of employment either. Made it much easier to catch up on my sleep.

Visiting my daughter is always  great. When we visit her, I get to spend more time talking with her like we used to and I thoroughly enjoy that, but I always leave feeling like I disappoint her. This is just dumb, because she says I don't. 

During part of her Lamaze class, which was why I was there, her instructor excused a portion of the film that was objectionable to most of the new moms, as being made on the west coast. Robin took exception to this under her breath because she considers herself a Californian! The cold winters in Chicago were quite a change.

We had talked earlier about her teenage years and her older brother’s too. I said that I was always worried that they would bring friends home and they would think we were the wrong class. She did ask what I meant, and I replied, that I was afraid they wouldn’t think we were in the same class level as they were. Certainly not as high class or rich as her in laws were. Her in laws of course felt quite at home when they visited. That made me feel better.  It reminded me of the 20th high school reunion we went to.  All the stuck up kids were really friendly. One of the kids who got teased the most was practically a millionaire.  Sometimes being smart has it's perks.

That's the problem with Aspergers. As a child my self esteem was very low, which is why I guess, I felt I wasn't good enough for the kids' friends and new family. My dad was a perfectionist ( I suspect he had Aspergers a bit too now). When I talked nonstop especially about something we learned at school, I was accused of being book smart and life dumb. I hated that, but perhaps some of it is or was true. Not understanding the nuances of social interactions, I probably did appear to be a bit backwards. I remember once being told I was pretty. Boy did I  get trouble for responding. "I know".

No one knew about Aspergers then of course and mostly I got told to not talk so much or so fast. Competing with all brothers in a male dominated family was rough. I had important things to say and dang it why didn't they listen? So I read a lot, like now and taught myself much of what I know. I am a sponge that way.  Go ahead ask me anything.  I'm liable to ask you how much time you have. :-)