Coming Together Anonymous

As a young student, I always struggled to finish simple class work activities on time, mostly because they involved coloring. I was nitpicky on which colors I selected because each choice would uniquely contribute to the overall picture. I knew how vital each color was in giving the impression of the picture. The 64-count Crayola box sets were personally torturous for me; they gave me too many color combinations and left me pondering at my desk for the entire class period.

I never realized that I was fastidious about colors, only that my classmates somehow managed to finish much earlier than I did. I assumed that I required more time because I was unusually inept at art, not because I was finicky in my color selection. My parents also found it odd how an elementary school student could have hours of homework.

Looking back, I see how my coloring habits resulted from my inclination to analyze everything, not strictly pictures. Because I analyze outfits, my friends know that I can easily recall the type of zipper on someone’s jacket, or the color of the seams on her jeans (and yes, the seams on denim do hold significance to the jeans’ overall impression). Additionally, junk mail, commercials, or billboards along the highway are...