Quirks or OCD

When do quirks become OCD behavior?

For the last couple of years I find myself counting. No, I don’t count the lines on the sidewalk, but I realize I’m counting the pieces as I slice celery or carrots.

When I’m knitting I count stitches. I will be in the middle of a run of stitches which I wouldn’t normally have to count. When knitting you will often have sections that are measured by the inch, not the stitch. Sometimes I find that I start counting from the number one in the middle of a row or a round. Oddly, I also notice I sometimes count by 2’s—not every two stitches but for each stitch.

In the morning I divide my egg into eight pieces, the bacon into eight bites, and the toast into four pieces. I take four bites from each little section of toast to cover the taste and texture of the egg and bacon. I take a bite  of egg, bacon, and two little bites of toast and then take a slurp of tea to wash it down. (I really dislike eggs.)I eat breakfast with the efficiency of a robotic assembly line. The remaining two pieces of toast are eaten as I finish my tea.

I don’t want to get into the teeth brushing counting ritual. It’s quite involved and weird. Today I realized I was counting the flatware as I emptied the dishwasher.

Sometimes all that counting makes me nuts. Is this a result of aging or am I losing my mind? Hmmm. . .