NORMALCY IS OVERRATED

"Don't ever call me normal!" I said half kiddingly.

"Don't worry, you'll never be accused of that!" came the dead serious reply.

During Christmas Kimberly casually commented, "Ya' know I was in my 20's before I realized MY mother is eccentric!"

Startled by the word, never having thought of myself as eccentric, I bristled and shot back, "Well, I'm in my 60's and JUST found out I am!"

We laughed and she tried to assure me it was a compliment. "Mom, we love your weirdness."

Her siblings piped in, "Other mothers were normal."

"Yeah, boring--you were never boring."

I birthed my very own cheering squad.

Ro! Rah! Ree!

Hit 'em in the knee!

Ro! Rah! Rass!

Hit 'em in the...

...other knee!

They eventually convinced me that being eccentric didn't mean my vision of a crazy cat lady with unshaven arm pits.

I prefer to be called not normal. Now I'm not as fond of the word abnormal because it smacks of asylums and lock downs.

Others have reframed it as, "Kathy, you ain't right." Now they didn't mean I was wrong...just not like everyone else. Not normal.

But isn't everyone different, unique? Certainly God loves variety. Just look around at nature, colors, personalities, talents. Figuring out who we are takes some years, experiences and tossing away molds or labels others may sometimes place on us.

Little David figured that out early in life when he yanked off Saul's armor. One size does not fit all. He risked the absurd, dared to be different, and lived the drastic. He flung a rock and Goliath beyond anyone's expectations. Go, David! He'd tell me, "No, it's go, God! The battle belonged to the Lord!"

Marriage often binds two opposite types together. I like the way Rocky Balboa phrased it, "The knots in your head fit the holes in mine." Our differences make us fit so we can complete, compliment and balance out each other.

That oft quoted philosopher, A. Nony Mous, put it this way, "We are all a little weird and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness, and call it love."

Normal. That word has several meanings. The death of a spouse brings about a new normal. Some things are normal for Christians but not average. God's prescription and provision should make joy, peace, gratitude and contentment normal for us. But it's not the average demeanor, seen in many faces of those in God's family.

Maybe my somewhat unconventional view of life is genetic. I find humor, the absurd, delight in strange places. Many of my relatives did. Uncle Roy dated a fat girl once and his mother asked, "Son, what do you see in her?" Now she was hefty herself but it didn't stop her from asking.

With a twinkle in his youthful eye, Roy bantered, "Mama! In the dark you can grab that big old arm of hers and it can be anything you want!"

"Roy!" she feigned shock.

Yep. I bet my aversion to normalcy is genetic. Like the cowboy with diarrhea, it's all in the genes. (Thanks for that one, Bert. He only acts normal in public but has his own little, twisted ways among family members.)

Normalcy? It's way overrated. Recently a Christian counselor noticed I wasn't quite normal. So he offered to help me if I cared to make an appointment.

"No thanks, " I declined Randy Hiatt. "I like the view outside the box."

He affirmed me with, "You wear outside the box well."

So there! For all you normals, I've been certified NOT NORMAL by a bonefide, licensed counselor!

But I'll keep your card, Dr. Randy, just in case I lose it, slip over the edge one day and not even realiz...

Kath

“There may be a time in life when one is tired of everything and feels as if all one does is wrong, and there may be some truth in it--do you think this is a feeling one must try to forget and to banish, or is it 'the longing for God,' which one must not fear, but cherish to see if it may bring us some good? Is it 'the longing for God' which leads us to make a choice which we never regret? Let us keep courage and try to be patient and gentle. And not mind being eccentric, and make distinction between good and evil." Vincent van Gogh