Coloring Crayons in Church.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November of 2004.  At the time, I thought my focus problems were more from having to deal with a toddler and just being preoccupied with "mom stuff".  A couple of years passed and it seemed I could sit through an entire church service and leave not remembering anything that I had heard.  MS brain, yup. Mommy brain, yup.  Frustrating, absolutely.

At the time I had resigned myself to the fact that this was how it was going to be.  I didn't see a way to fix my focus problems and jolt my brain into remembering what was said. One day my daughter had a coloring book in church and I grabbed a crayon and started to color along with her.  I didn't think anything of it at the time but when I left I realized that I remembered some of what I had heard.

Sundays came and went and I continued to color alongside my daughter.  My brain settled in to a comfy place where there was a sort of brain fractal where I could shut off all the awkward buzzing of people moving in and out of church to get coffee, use the bathroom, rescue the nursery staff from a screaming child, a random cough or other such distractions.

I bought myself some very detailed adult coloring books on Amazon (forewarning: searching "adult coloring books" brings up some searches of an awkward, maybe unsavory nature but, unless you are unfamiliar with human anatomy or blush at the sight of black-line drawings of girly bit and man bits, you should be okay if you come across the select few among the multiple books).

You can get books on geometric designs, paisleys, floral arrangements originally done by famous artists, Chinese dragons, artwork from famous theatrical signs, Renaissance clothing, Tudor houses, architecture, landscapes, famous historical figures, animals and on and on.  I also bought a box of 120 crayons and a crayon sharpener.  I use the sharpener all the time since the books I chose are very detailed.

I color every week.  I remember the sermons.  Who would have thought that focus would be found at the bottom of a crayon box?