The Journal of Best Practices

by David Finch

  Advance Praise for

  The Journal of Best Practices

  “David Finch has Asperger syndrome—a disorder that, in some ways,

  means ‘acting like a guy.’ His often hilarious efforts to understand and cope

  with his condition will resonate with every guy whose wife has

  ever asked him, ‘What the hell were you THINKING?’”

  —DAVE BARRY, author of I’ll Mature When I’m Dead:

  Dave Barry’s Amazing Tales of Adulthood

  “I loved The Journal of Best Practices by fellow Aspergian David Finch.

  This book perfectly captures the essence of succeeding at

  married life from the perspective of an Aspergian male. If you’re

  in an AS-NT relationship—or any relationship—you absolutely must

  read this book! It’s an upbeat and refreshing change.”

  —JOHN ELDER ROBISON, author of Look Me in the Eye

  “Funny, moving, and insightful.”

  —KIRKUS REVIEWS

  At some point in nearly every marriage, a wife finds herself asking, What the @#!% is wrong with my husband?! In David Finch’s case, this turns out to be an apt question. Five years after he married Kristen, the love of his life, they learn that he has Asperger syndrome. The diagnosis explains David’s ever-growing list of quirks and compulsions, his lifelong propensity to quack and otherwise melt down in social exchanges, and his clinical-strength inflexibility. But it doesn’t make him any easier to live with.

  Determined to change, David sets out to understand Asperger syndrome and learn to be a better husband—no easy task for a guy whose inability to express himself rivals his two-year-old daughter’s, who thinks his responsibility for laundry extends no further than throwing things in (or at) the hamper, and whose autism-spectrum condition makes seeing his wife’s point of view a near impossibility.

  Nevertheless, David devotes himself to improving his marriage with an endearing yet hilarious zeal that involves excessive note-taking, performance reviews, and most of all, the Journal of Best Practices: a collection of hundreds of maxims and hard-won epiphanies that result from self-reflection both comic and painful. They include “Don’t change the radio station when she’s singing along,” “Apologies do not count when you shout them,” and “Be her friend, first and always.” Guided by the Journal of Best Practices, David transforms himself over the course of two years from the world’s most trying husband to the husband who tries the hardest, the husband he’d always meant to be.

  Filled with humor and surprising wisdom, The Journal of Best Practices is a candid story of ruthless self-improvement, a unique window into living with an autism-spectrum condition, and proof that a true heart can conquer all.

  David Finch grew up on a farm in northern Illinois and attended the University of Miami, where he studied music engineering technology. In 2008, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. His essay “Somewhere Inside, a Path to Empathy” appeared in The New York Times and became the basis for this book. David lives in northern Illinois with his wife and their two children.

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  Copyright © 2012 by David Finch

  Author’s Note: This is a memoir. I have been faithful to my recollections. Certain events and dialogue have been adapted to suit the narrative. The names and identifying characteristics of some individuals have been changed.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Scribner hardcover edition January 2012

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  Designed by Carla Jayne Jones

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011013986

  ISBN 978-1-4391-8971-9 (print)

  ISBN 978-1-4391-8975-7 (eBook)

  To Kristen, Emily, and Parker

  “The only thing to know is how to use your neuroses.”

  —Arthur Adamov

  Contents

  Introduction—Do all that you can to be worthy of her love.

  Chapter 1—Be her friend, first and always.

  Chapter 2—Use your words.

  Chapter 3—Get inside her girl world and look around.

  Chapter 4—Just listen.

  Chapter 5—Laundry: Better to fold and put away than to take only what you need from the dryer.

  Chapter 6—Go with the flow.

  Chapter 7—When necessary, redefine perfection.

  Chapter 8—Be loyal to your true stakeholders.

  Chapter 9—Take notes.

  Chapter 10—Give Kristen time to shower without crowding her.

  Chapter 11—Be present in moments with the kids.

  Chapter 12—Parties are supposed to be fun.

  The Final Best Practice—Don’t make everything a Best Practice.

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  Do all that you can to be worthy of her love.

  I was thirty years old and had been married five years when I learned that I have Asperger syndrome, a relatively mild form of autism. My wife, Kristen, a speech therapist and autism expert, brought it to my attention one evening after harboring suspicions for years.

  Receiving such a diagnosis as an adult might seem shocking and unsettling. It wasn’t. Eye-opening, yes. Life-changing, yes. But not distressing in the least. Strangely, it was rather empowering to discover that I had this particular condition. In fact, the diagnosis ultimately changed my life for the better.

  I received the news the day before my niece was born. I remember this not because I’m a wonderful uncle but because she was born on March 14, 2008, which is well-known among my fellow nerds in the math and science communities as “Pi Day” because pi, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, is equal to 3.14. Also 3 + 14 + 2 + 0 + 8 totals 27, which is divisible by 3, and I love numbers that are divisible by 3, particularly numbers whose digits sum to 27, of which 3 is the cube root. (Are you starting to see why Kristen had her suspicions?)

  The day had been chaotic but really nothing out of the ordinary for two young working parents. Kristen was in the kitchen, trying to put it back in some kind of order, and I was upstairs saying good night to our kids. After walking with our ten-month-old son, Parker, in little circles around his dark room and whispering the lyrics of an Eric Clapton song until he fell asleep, I cuddled with our daughter, Emily, until her restless two-year-old squirming subsided and her breathing slowed and deepened. I crept out, whispering “I love you,” the words all but dissolving into the whir of her electric fan.

  As I descended in
to the warm amber glow that bathed the first floor of our house, I could hear the hum of the dishwasher in the kitchen and the soft clunk of toys being put away in the playroom. Something was up; the house was never so tranquil right after the kids went to bed. Usually, the television was on, the kitchen was a disaster, and books and toys were scattered everywhere. I expected to find Kristen in her usual spot: sitting on the couch among stacks of paper and thick binders, her laptop resting on her legs as she feverishly prepared for the next day’s work. But everything was different that night.

  In the kitchen, my dinner was cooling on the clean counter, and I felt an unusual sense of peace as I prepared for my evening routine. At eight thirty each night, after the kids have been put to bed, I circle the first floor, counterclockwise, starting in the kitchen, where I check to see if the patio door is locked. Then it’s back to the kitchen, where I usually wander around in circles until Kristen asks me what I’m doing.

  But that night, before I began, Kristen approached me by the refrigerator in her pajamas and wrapped me in a tight hug.

  “Oh,” I said, surprised. “Hello there.” I couldn’t remember the last time she had given me a hug for no particular reason. I hesitated for a moment, trying to play it cool, then squeezed her close.

  “Hi,” she said into my chest. Her blond hair darkened to a shade of honey and shimmered lightly in the dimness. “Do you want some pizza?” she asked.

  “Yeah, thanks for making it.”

  “Sure,” she said. “When you’re ready, why don’t you bring it down to the basement?” Without letting go, she looked up at me and smiled. “There’s something I want to show you.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right down.”

  Understanding the importance of my routines, she playfully patted my butt and headed down to her office in the basement. Stunned by this rare and remarkable display of affection, I completed my rounds. I proceeded through the dining room and living room, then it was on to the foyer, where I always take a few moments to stare out the front window, visually lining up the neighbors’ rooftops (the alignment is the same every time, which is so gratifying it makes my shoulders relax, and for a moment my head is clear, my thoughts organized). As usual, I took note of which lights were on. I don’t normally shut them off, I just like to check in and see how they’re doing. Dining room light on, piano lamp not on, foyer not on, hallway on, kitchen off (that’s kind of rare . . . how ’bout it, kitchen?), oven hood on. I grabbed my pizza from the counter, swiped a Pepsi from the fridge, and made my way down the loud, clunky steps to Kristen’s office in our basement, where she was sitting in front of her computer. She turned and beamed at me.

  “Sit here,” she said, pointing to the empty chair beside her. I had no idea what was going on, but there was pizza involved, and for the first time in weeks, I’d made her smile. Whatever it is, I’m in.

  “Ready to get down to business?” she asked in a tone that seemed to suggest that I was.

  I laughed. “Wet’s get down to bwass tacks!”

  “Huh?” She looked thoroughly confused.

  “It’s from Blazing Saddles. I’m ready.”

  Embarrassed and disappointed that my movie reference tanked, I shoved my hands under my legs and swiveled back and forth in my chair.

  “All right,” she said. “I’m going to ask you a list of questions, and you just have to answer honestly.” She must have realized that she was setting herself up by telling me to answer honestly. I tend to be verbose when people ask me to talk about myself; some would even say exhausting. I have no filter to limit my discourse to relevant things, and that puts people off. When I am invited to speak about myself, often what comes forth is the verbal equivalent of a volcanic eruption, spewing molten mind magma in every direction.

  “I mean, you don’t have to deliberate each question,” she said, backpedaling. “I don’t need big, long answers, just honest ones.”

  “Got it.”

  She began: “Do you tend to get so absorbed by your special interests that you forget or ignore everything else? Just answer yes, no, or sometimes.”

  “Special interests?”

  “You know,” she said, “things like practicing your saxophone for four hours a day, or when you wrote scenes at the Second City and I hardly ever saw you . . .”

  “Oh, well, sure,” I said. We both laughed. “I mean, doesn’t everybody get into stuff?”

  “No,” she replied, marking down my answer. “Many people can do something they enjoy and not let it consume their whole life so they forget to pay bills, or put on shoes, or check in on their family from time to time.”

  “Well. That’s their problem if they don’t have the intellectual capacity to engage constructively with an activity.”

  “Next one: Is your sense of humor different from the mainstream or considered odd?”

  I reflected back on the moment thirty seconds earlier, when I had cracked myself up by throwing my head back and bellowing what would be for most people a forgettable line from a Mel Brooks movie. Then I recalled going to a Victoria’s Secret store fifteen years earlier with my friend Greg and convincing the salesclerk that my girlfriend was shaped exactly like me, just so that I could quickly try on some lingerie against store policy (apparently) and give Greg a good laugh. That joke had been a success. But then I remembered the time in junior high when I glued a rubber chicken head to a T-shirt and wrote LET’S GET SERIOUS across the chest in permanent marker, only to be told at school that I’d have to wear something more appropriate. That time nobody had laughed. Finally, I recalled going to dinner with a customer a year earlier and taking a series of dirty jokes so far that he abruptly stopped laughing and asked what was wrong with me.

  “Put me down for a yes,” I concluded.

  “Do you often talk about your special interests whether others seem interested or not?” she asked. Her smile was answer enough, and I assumed that, like me, she was thinking of all the times in which I’d waxed lyrical about having perfected the art of using public toilets.

  “Yes.” What else is there to talk about?

  On and on it went, for over 150 questions.

  “Do you take an interest in, and remember, details that others do not seem to notice? Do you notice patterns in things all the time? Do you need periods of contemplation?” All emphatically answered yes, with a follow-up, “This is fun!”

  “Do you tend to get so stuck on details that you miss the overall picture? Do you get very tired after socializing and need to regenerate alone? Do people comment on your unusual mannerisms and habits?” Absolutely!

  I found the questions rather amusing until we came to a section so personally revealing that it pulled the air from my lungs and made me forget how to blink.

  “Does it feel vitally important to be left undisturbed when focusing on your special interests?” she asked. “Vitally is the key here.”

  “Yes. You know how—”

  “I know,” Kristen said, interrupting. “Before doing something or going somewhere, do you need to have a picture in your mind of what’s going to happen so as to be able to prepare yourself mentally first?”

  This question seems rather insightful. “O-oh my God,” I stammered. “Yeah, that’s totally me.”

  “Do you prefer to wear the same clothes and eat the same food every day? Do you become intensely frustrated if an activity that is important to you gets interrupted? Do you have strong attachments to certain favorite objects?”

  “Those are all yes.”

  “I know. Do you have certain routines which you need to follow? Do you get frustrated if you can’t sit on your favorite seat?”

  “I literally have ended friendships over the seat thing. In high school—”

  “Do you feel tortured by clothes tags, clothes that are too tight or are made in the ‘wrong’ material? Do you tend to shut down or have a meltdown when stressed or overwhelmed?”

  All yes. But I was too stunned to answer aloud.

  “How a
bout, do people think you are aloof and distant? Do you often feel out of sync with others? In conversations, do you need extra time to carefully think out your reply, so that there may be a pause before you answer? Have you had the feeling of playing a game, pretending to be like people around you?”

  I had chills. Actually, my skin was on fire. Actually, it was both.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Just keep answering honestly.” Kristen patted my leg reassuringly. “You’ll find out when we’re done.”

  One by one, the questions described everything I already knew about myself—everything that I had always felt made me unique, beautiful, yet removed from other people. Folding my arms tight, I began to cry, which surprised both of us.

  Kristen asked if I was all right, and I said that I was, so we continued. Another batch of questions brought back the laughter. In fact, most of the questions from that point forward were rather potent, evoking one strong emotion or another, though there were a few that seemed odd and out of place, such as “Do you sometimes have an urge to jump over things?” and “Have you been fascinated by making traps?” (Admittedly, it sucked a little to hear myself answering yes to both of those.)

  We finished the quiz, and Kristen took a moment to gaze at me before asking, “What do you think?”

  “I think that was a very telling list of questions,” I said. “Did you write those?”

  She explained that she had stumbled upon the questionnaire while searching online for Asperger’s evaluation resources, though, notably, she offered little explanation as to why she had been looking for those resources. I had to assume that it wasn’t strictly for her job.