My husband's father is brilliant in certain ways (i.e. mechanically, visual spatial) but is very limited in EF. I know because we just had to go to his house and literally shovel full two large constrution dumpsters that we rented. Their house was so packed full of junk that it would have been impossible to even get a realtor out there to look at it. In forty years, he hasn't thrown anything away. We opened about 70 old paint cans that were piled up in the basement, hauled about 19 old broken down chairs out of the attic, etc. I believe he always planned to fix these chairs (a few at at time as he acquired them from passed-away relatives) but forgot they were there. He didn't care that we were throwing things out. The problem was that he is so poorly organized with such poor planning ability, things never made it out to the garbage can or to the goodwill. The good news is that he has stayed employed and made a reasonable living (fixing machines in a die casting plant), the bad news is that his money management is so poor that they are on the verge of retiring and filing backruptcy. Mother-in-law is just as bad, or worse. I believe that if he had married a highly organized wife (and vice versa with MIL marrying a highly organized husband), things could have gone better for them. The question is, how many people are willing to put up with it?
