Grab a

In my youth, I called myself a nerd because I didn't do, act, behave exactly like everyone around me. As an adult I have oftentimes said I was strange...an odd-bird...just different than other adults my age...yes, I've even said I was weird. Don't worry... I know/knew friends never perceived me as any of those connotations (at least to my face). So I taught my students and raised my three browns to be the exact same way (because THIS generation can be a little bit 'extra' but I digress)... I told them, especially oldest brown, that it was okay NOT to be like everyone else; they could be in the in-crowd, yet not do 'everything' the in-crowd does.

This last week has taught me alot about myself. I do express myself, act, react and, yes, BEHAVE differently than others in extreme situations. No, I have not been a constant weeping mess when visitors arrived. That doesn't mean I haven't cried, because I have ....gallons and gallons....and I won't stop in the foreseeable future. No I'm not suppressing my feelings and emotions when people embrace me (as one of our first visitors alleged last week when I didn't sob on demand you are not going to force me to cry ...but I digress again!). This quote fits me to a totally straight, UPPERCASE T : I am not defective, weird, or a lost cause...I am resilient. And that is not a bad thing....