17 Steps

This is in no way a comment about people with autism or parents with autistic children. But, I am fascinated with it and I'm self-diagnosing here ... I have a touch of it. Not enough to become Rain Man, just a smidge.

When I can't sleep, I play numbers games in my head. I remember numbers in a way that is bizarre. I spend my day playing with words; I spend my nights with numbers, trying to bore myself into slumber land.

Muscle memory is a weird thing. I've been going to my friend's lake cottage for almost two decades. I know every step and every dip. This year, they redid the patio, walkway and the steps to the pier with some new space-age material. It's fabulous, yet, it has me stumbling. (Stupid reading glasses don't help.) Muscle memory kicks in. I'm supposed to step down here. No!

My friend told me it's 17 steps from the patio to the pier. Now I can count and that helps.