OCD, Trust and American Idol

Those of you who know me well, know that I have a slight obsessive compulsive disorder. OK, OK, I admit, it's not slight. It's very apparent, and pretty prevalent throughout my lifestyle. I have labeled the washing machine with directions for each respective type of laundry load, labeled the pantry drawers, and made lists for cleaning which are on a 4 week rotation. I keep all towels folded in the same way and stacked facing the same direction, I like to eat at exactly the same time every day...you get the picture. I like to think of it as fantastic organizational skills rather than a true mental illness (although some may beg to differ, like Greg, for instance, who has to hear the rantings when the cleaning list hasn't been completely scratched off by the Saturday deadline!)

Like I said, this OCD is prevalent in most aspects of my life. Take grocery shopping, for instance. I go to Giant Eagle about the same time and day every week. There aren't many people grocery shopping early in the morning, and that's precisely why I shop then. Concurrently, there are always the same two or three cashiers working. After a year of this, they have come to know me, at least by face, if not by name. Last week, while I was unloading my groceries onto the belt, the cashier said, "My! You always lay everything out on the belt so nicely. Everything is grouped together so that it's so easy to pack!"

"Oh," I thought, "even the Giant Eagle ladies know I have OCD." What they don't know is that I actually have the store layout memorized. When I write my grocery list, I write it in the order of the aisles, and then pack the shopping cart in a specific manner as I shop, so that when I unload things, they are automatically nicely grouped! It goes way beyond just unloading the cart! :)

Hey, admitting the problem is half the battle, right...wait, there's no problem! I like things this way!

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Jacob and I have had several talks about lying and how it destroys trust that people have for one another. Not because of anything Jacob has done. He's told a few fibs here and there, but nothing monumental. It's actually been in response to someone else we know well. I have tried to turn some negative incidences into learning experiences for Jake. If I wondered if he was listening, the answer was given to me the other day. In the car on the way home from school, he said, "Mom, Zach lost 20% of my trust the other day. He lied to me."

I said, "He lied to you and lost 20% of your trust? What did he lie about?" I was also wondering where the 20% came from, but I was more curious about the lie itself.

"On April Fool's day, he told me and Bob that he wasn't going to say April Fool's again and then he turned around, laughed and said, 'April Fool's!' He lied."

"Well, I think he was probably just joking. That's a day when you joke one another."

"No. He lied. But J.J. gained 20% of my trust back today. That was good."

I moved along in the conversation with him. "Oh yeah? How did he gain your trust back?"

"He was nice to me all day and shared things with me at play time."

Well, I suppose he absorbed the main point of what I've been talking about. Lies and trust are pretty abstract concepts for a 5 year old. I'm just impressed that he is listening. Coming from the boy who recently visited the audiologist because I thought he may have a hearing impairment (he doesn't), I'm surprised to hear anything that I've said to him come back to me...that is, unless it is potentially incriminating, then he's all about repeating!

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Last night we all watched American Idol together like we always do. Jacob half watches the show, and half plays, but he always listens to our comments. I can't stand Paula and Greg can't stand Kara. We are always telling them to stop talking, and last night Jacob looked at me in the middle of one of their rants and said, "both of those women talk too much." He hit the nail on the head!