I love being weird

As long as I can remember I have been strange.  My family told me so.  The only problem is that they made it seem like a bad thing.

First I was the quiet one in my family.... always thinking.  (yes, that was said negatively)

Then I was the bookworm. (also an insult)

Then I was the home-girl (which was a good thing in the 1980s' if you were hip and cool, but in my case, they meant it quite literal.  Everyone else was a homegirl, and I was a home....girl. get it?  Not funny.)
  Then I was just strange (my mother's own words.... expressed after I brought home a creative writing assignment with A+ written on it.  It was a take on Tale of Two Cities where we were required to write from the viewpoints of either a Surf or Nobility.... I chose Nobility.)

At this point, I'd have enough of my family of 11 pointing out how much I stood out from the pack.  I decided to embrace it.  Soon after, my mother was calling me strange based on something I'd said or did, and I stood up in the middle of the living room and exclaimed:

MAYBE I'M NOT THE STRANGE ONE HERE.  (as I pointed to each family member I continued) MAYBE YOU ARE ALL THE STRANGE ONES (I then pointed to myself and said) PERHAPS, I AM THE NORMAL ONE.  .... and they all decided it wasn't worth arguing and changed the conversation.

Some 30-odd years later and I am still the strange one.  Eight years ago, when I finally told my older brother (who I thought would try to get custody of my kids for homeschooling) that I was homeschooling, his answer was "well, you've always been weird, but you seem to make it work, go for it".  At least they now appreciate my weirdness.

And now I do too:

Over at the Education Explorers blog, I just read the post, Dear God, Please Don't Let my children be "normal" where the writer clearly lays out the differences between the words "Normal" and "Quirky".  You have to read it.  It's delightful.

ps.  I have weird kids too... and they embrace it.  I'm so glad they don't have to wait until they are in their 40's to love that they are wired differently.




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