More of Much Madness

          I wrote something about inherited and learned family madness back on December 17, 2012.  (Know how I found it?  I've pasted blogs into one document, and I did a search for "just thinking,"  Dana's response when I heard her screaming and ran to see what the matter was.)  That came to mind (!) when the subject of autism came up during a visit Shehla, Beth, and I paid  to Katja, Nicole's mother.  We arrived one at a time, and I was the lucky first-arrival, the one who got to spend more time with her.  I can tell where Nicole inherited all her interests (and even when I'm mad at her, I enjoy her company because her interests and involvement make her interesting).  Katja is very bright and well-read, like my own mother.  Yes, we talked about Karl My, which I introduced, and Still Alice, which I also mentioned when Katja told us about a friend who has Alzheimer's and knows it, writing about her journey through it.  But she also talked about a "very sarcastic" book she was reading, Dinner by Herman Koch, which I've just ordered on Audible.  That evolved into a discussion of a book she called Brothers--from surgeons operating together to the Marx Bros. or Three Stooges.  (But I can't find it online.)  Finally that evolved to a discussion of Temple Grandin, whose oddities people noticed without realizing that she had Autism.  She built a better slaughterhouse and accomplished other remarkable feats before she was diagnosed with Autism.

          Considering the madness we may have inherited from our parents and other forebears and "caught" through exposure from Mom and Daddy, I was prompted to ask, "What were some examples of oddities people noticed before she was diagnosed?"

"That's a good question," Katja said, reflecting.

"I'm just asking in case I happen to be Autistic," I blurted out, and everyone laughed.

Well, that resonated, didn't it!