My dad didn’t have much material things to leave me when he left this world.  But one of my most cherished possessions that he gave me is memorialized on one of his T-shirt, now mind, that says: “They say I have ADD, but they just don’t understand–Oh look!  A chicken!”  

I think ADD, like many other cluster “diagnoses” that (godlove’em) the medical profession labels as a dysfunction or syndrome, is just another protective device that children use to survive in those busy families (aka alcoholic, broken, abusive, rich & alienated, abandoned, etc).  It is a useful and successful idea to be distracted by the trees outside instead of listening to what is going on inside the house.

But I wonder what the opposite would be?  How about ACE: Attention Celebration Exercise?  We ace something when we focus and complete it.  We are aces when we get kudos for something we do.  I ace it when I get that ball in the hoop.  It is a word of accomplishment, progress in action, a sign of willingness to move forward.

And for that little kid who did everything possible not to admit or acknowledge the hurtful things, to ace a day is to practice celebration for all that is, for all I AM, for the grace that keeps me walking on this dear earth.