This is why I’m obsessed with brain training

After my parents divorced when I was seven, I lived with my mom, and visits with my dad were few and far between. When he did pick me up, one of our rituals was to go to Bob Evans. He always ordered the same meal regardless of the time of day: two eggs, sausage patties, two biscuits, and a bowl of sausage gravy. Don’t forget coffee and an ice-cold glass of milk; I ordered the same thing sans the coffee.

A friend of mine saw this picture and asked, “Is that oatmeal or gravy?” I replied, “Thank you for giving me the title of my autobiography.” Oatmeal? Are you kidding? By the way, this is still the version of biscuits and gravy by which I measure all others. I haven’t been to a Bob Evans in many years. It’s probably a good thing for me that none are west of the Mississippi.

While we waited for our food to arrive, my dad would flip over the paper placemat, take out a fancy pen, and start writing puzzles for me to solve. Here’s one I remember.

Find the next letter in this sequence: O T T F F S S E N __ His hint was that it’s simple enough that a child in kindergarten could do it. The answer is at the end of this section.

These interactions planted the seed of my life-long enjoyment of puzzles and brain teasers. It helps to be left-brain oriented and very analytical — traits I inherited from my…