I always wanted kids. I think they have always been a comfort zone for me, personally. I can relate and interact with them so much easier. They are less critical. It is a challenge. Some days it is a mountain. Kids are fairly forgiving, though.

Relationships, on the other hand, have always been hard for me. I am on my 4th marriage. I found out years after divorcing my 2nd husband that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s. Neither of us knew then and we operated on two completely different planes.

I think it only got better when I came to the conclusion that no one was likely to ever really “get” me and I had to be satisfied with people being able to say “I don’t understand, but it’s okay”.

I once told a VERY dear couple of friends that when we were all roommates I always felt like I was on the outside of the fishbowl. They didn’t see it. They saw me as the glue that held them all together. So I started working on my own perception versus that of others.

I don’t tend toward panic attacks or anything like that. You mentioned it before. Implosion vs. explosion. After a stressful situation I become MUCH more vulnerable to sensory overload. Don’t touch me, don’t talk to me, I stutter, I become much more “crass”.

My solution for the last couple of years (because the Army was a MAJOR exercise in “coping”) I plug into music. Usually it calms me right down and seems to reset my ability to deal.