First really stand out memory being "other" was in second grade. I was not able to relate. I couldn't understand them. How they thought, talked, and most if all, interacted. It was a very distinct moment. Almost like a movie, where everything was at a distance, standing there with the sudden realization of being alone in a foreign land. I was the alien observer.

It's kind of weird, really, for that to be the stand out moment. Because in kindergarten and first grade, I didn't talk. Like, almost never. I must have realized on some level that it was weird, but was so inside my own head. What I remember most was spinning on this toy. Every chance, around and around. And tapping my teacher to hand a paper and scurrying away. No eye contact, no talking. Yet I was outraged when they put me in the "slow" reading group(!) I'd gone into kindergarten able to write in (self-taught) cursive (a skill they wouldn't even teach for another 2 years(!) They did quickly realize their error, but ... What? Did I think they'd just "know" because it was inside my head?(!)

(Disclaimer: those aren't BP things, just early memories of substantial different-ness. The obviously BP things came later really. Mood things were there, but the clear ones aren't mine.)

I'd not have thought in terms of any sort of dx at that age if course. Even years later didn't think in terms of bipolar though, because I knew nothing about it. (These are different times. It was much easier to be kept in the dark then.)