“You Know Your Spouse has ADHD When…”

For better or for worse, being married to someone with ADHD presents its challenges. Here, readers share (mostly) funny moments that encompass their spouse’s attention deficit.

By ADDitude Editors Verified Updated on March 30, 2023

He won’t stop talking about his favorite subject and doesn’t notice that his audience has fallen asleep. — An ADDitude Reader
The pile of unfinished projects in the corner of the garage is almost as high as the ceiling! — Ann Marie Morrison, Absecon, New Jersey
You go away for the weekend and come home to what appears to be “Extreme Makeover,” the nightmare edition: Your living room has been turned into a Nerf battlefield, complete with broken knickknacks left where they fell. — Kathy, Missouri
You can’t get through to him by talking to him! You need visual reminders to get him to hear you. — Linda Gangemi, Hamilton Hill, Western Australia
He can remember every date associated with the Civil War, but, after 16 years of marriage, he can’t remember your birthday! — Colleen, Maryland

She borrows a book from the library on how to de-clutter the house, never gets around to reading it, loses it, and, when she finally finds it, she makes you return it because she’s too embarrassed to pay the late fee. — Christine, Montreal, Quebec
If you need him to remember something, you ask whether he has his smartphone handy, so he can “write it down”! — Debbie Drennan, San Jose, California
You are listening to a baseball game on the radio in the car, but he can’t tell you the score, even though it was announced twice in the last five minutes, because there’s so much else going on outside the window! — Lisa Gorman, Wynantskill, New York

You walk into the kitchen and the cupboards are open, the dishes are half-done, and the milk is in the microwave. — Izzy, Washington
You ask a question while she’s looking straight at you, and when you think you’re going to get an answer, she turns around and leaves, not having heard a word you said. — Judy, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
He walks over the trash in the hallway while taking out the trash in the garage. — Jesse Janicek, Canton, Michigan
A co-worker has to write him a note on more than one occasion to tell him to go home now, because he is hyperfocusing on a problem or task and has forgotten the time! — Karen, Canada
She has five sets of duplicate keys made “just in case,” and she can’t find any of them. — An ADDitude Reader
She goes out for milk and comes home with candy, a belated birthday card, a candle, pantyhose, another daily planner, ice cream, and a shiny spatula — but no milk. — Kristin Magruder, Meridian, Idaho