“I’m fine with being strange, but I’m tired of people telling me I’m strange.” Carolyn Hax
So, I have some leftovers from my time out East, as I refer to it. (Despite growing up on the East Coast, I now consider myself a ‘naturalized Midwesterner’, as I feel more at home in the Upper Midwest than I ever have on the East Coast…) Anyway, I spent several years living in the Washington, D.C. area, and one legacy from that is my love of the Washington Post.
I’ve read Carolyn Hax’s column religiously for decades now, I think. She’s an advice columnist, and she also hosts weekly chats. I am always behind on reading them – much like with reading blogs – but this quote was in one from early April. It was in reply to a woman who was married, but she and her spouse were going to rent separate apartments because they realized that they were happier when they weren’t in the same space all. the. time.
And this was part of Carolyn’s reply (which, essentially, just said to do your thing and don’t worry about what others will think).
This is me in a nutshell. I know I am weird. I know I am different, in many ways. I’m good with that. What drives me bonkers is when people call it to my attention. What, you don’t think I know I am weird? I do. I’m good with it. But why do you have to call attention to it? The best concrete example I can come up with is the people who comment on my lunch. Every week, it seems, someone says something like “Oh, that looks interesting. What is it?” It’s tofu, and veggies, and hummus. And yes, I mix it together. And yes, I love it.
I also know it’s not typical. But it works for me, and I don’t need other people commenting on it.
The best one, though, was the woman who asked if my husband made it for me.
???
I was so taken aback, I just kind of laughed and said “Um, no. He doesn’t live here. I made it myself.” Which, I think, shocked her into silence.
But seriously. Just let me own my weirdness. I don’t need you to point it out.
