My auditory self awareness journey

I've begun to notice something about the way my brain works over the last few years.  It began with my inability to visualize an object when it was described verbally.  For example- a kid will walk up to me and I'd be cooking and they would say "oh mom I want to build this cool thing that will shoot marbles across the floor and it would look like this *wa wa wa wa wa wa wa wa"

*insert peanut's parent squawking here.

The next step would be me being apologetic and "would you please draw this contraption so I can understand better?"

I thought everyone operated this way so I thought nothing of it.  But the more time progressed the more I noticed it.

It's worse with George because he has a minor speech problem(that has gotten better!  Yay!).  It used to take extreme concentration to understand his descriptions and visualize.  I  definitely had to stop what I was doing to focus on him.  It's gotten a bit better from his side of things- he is clearer.  But I'm still confused- just a bit less so, directly proportional to his improvement.  

I forget directions that are spoken.  If they are written I have a much better chance at remembering them.  

I think my biggest Aha! moment was when we went to pick up wings at Wing Stop a few months ago.  I had been confused about Trump running for office.  But the most I felt was that he was a harmless clown.  I had listened to the debates.  It didn't fully sink in until I saw him up on the screen at wing stop.  More importantly I saw his words on closed caption.  I've always preferred closed caption whenever available- but I always chalked it up to not being able to hear because little kids were always about.  

When I saw Trump's words blip up it hit me like a ton of bricks "what on earth have we done?!?!?"  I immediately felt the impact of the situation.  How had we let America get this far off track?  What led us to the point where we would actually engage this egotistical misogynist seriously? 

It took reading the words to get it.

Everything started to come together like pieces of a puzzle.  Why I could never remember the mass readings the second I walked out of the church doors if I wasn't actively reading along.  Why audiobooks, while enjoyable, are a struggle if it's anything deeper than the hunger games.  And even with the hunger games I would have to rewind often!  Why I always forget to do those one or two things that Chris asks me to do on his way out the door in the morning.  Why I couldn't understand the kids descriptions.  Oh!  And also why the girls in high school describing their prom and homecoming dresses always annoyed me! I just didn't get it!

Why I am an avid list maker and note taker.  Why purely taking notes in class wasn't enough- I had to go back and READ my notes to make it stick.

So now I heavily rely on my notes and lists apps- even for things I think I'm sure to remember.  I also have given up on trying to avoid scandal and rely on using my IPieta app to read the readings at mass.  Let them think I'm browsing Facebook.  Whatevs.

It's been an interesting self revelation and I'm just wanting to share.  And while I've mostly dumbified my phone- there isn't a big chance I would completely dumbify it- these apps help me function like Norm the Normal.