i'm not normal

Imagine my shock when I discovered this.

This is a bit lengthy so you may want to grab a cuppa first!!

Actually, that was only this morning, when I looked at my toes which got me thinking.  

There is a story to this, my toes are not actually deformed or anything!  In fact a couple of incidents triggered my thoughts which led to one thing and another until I reached the startling realisation that 'I'm not normal'.

The toes brought me back to a conversation I'd had with a dear friend of mine just last week.  I'd phoned to really just have a chat.  She couldn't talk long as she was off for a pedicure.  She couldn't stand to have 'naked toes' any longer.  Naked toes???  I'd never thought of my toes as naked before and does it really matter?  It sure doesn't to me, especially in winter when what I wear most is work boots or gumboots.  Am I the only one who doesn't give a rats what my toes look like most of the time?  When getting dressed this morning I looked down at them.  A few bits of old nail polish on the big toes from how long ago I couldn't remember, toe rings, and I thought, they don't look very appealing.  This is what got me thinking about other things.

Yesterday I took DS1 & DS2 for a haircut.  I had arrived about half an hour early which gave me an opportunity to sit, watch and listen, something I enjoy, maybe too much!  There were a couple of other boys about ten or eleven having haircuts as school went back today.  One was getting exactly what his mother requested, the other was getting exactly what he wanted.  As the latter got up and his mother went to pay, he walked to the shelves and selected a box.  He gave it to her and said "can you get this" and turned away.  Without so much as batting an eyelid she took the box and paid.  His haircut was a 'number two' which is approximately one centimetre all over.  The box was a tube of hair gel that cost twenty three dollars.  I couldn't believe it.  There was no doubt she could afford it, she was beautifully dressed in both clothes and jewellery.  After she left I looked down at myself in my old khaki's, long tee, knitted vest and scarf and found that I liked myself just the way I was.  I just thought 'who does that'?  

On Friday night we attended a very informal work function of my husbands.  We talked to one couple for a very long time who I liked very much.  They have two grown sons neither of which live at home.  She was telling me how they had five televisions.  Five, for just the two of them.  I quite unashamedly stated that we had one.  They were incredulous, how could we live with only one tv.  I told them if I could remove one item from my house it would be that one tv.  The husband said "you sound just like her".  The 'her' he was referring to was one of the sons ex-girlfriends who they described as a 'tree hugging hippy'. I can live with that.

When my sister used to visit, my nephews at the age of six and nine would arrive with their DS and find a spot and sit playing games until it was time to go home.  No social interaction with other children, no speaking to other family members.  My sister would think how lovely and well behaved they were for not moving.

Please don't get me wrong.  I love my friend dearly, I love my sister and her children, I have just come to realise that I think differently to most other people.  

My children have mobile phones.  The older two are now responsible for their own lives being over eighteen.  DS1 got a phone when his sister left school, in case the bus broke down - it does so regularly.  As we live semi-rural it could be miles away.  The rule is when he gets home from school it goes on the kitchen bench.

They have facebook.  They were allowed this when they were fifteen.  The rule is I join too, I become your friend, if I see undesirable content or photos they lose it and if I ask for their password they must give it.

We have a wii game that was a family present and is rarely used, otherwise we don't have playstation, xbox game consoles or whatever they're called.

I have a four year old who knows each breed of our chickens, he knows where his eggs and milk/cheese come from.  He knows if we plant something it grows and most times we can eat it, he knows at precisely nine o'clock each morning we check the rain gauge.  He has no idea what Macca's or HJ's is, he's never had a bought pizza or hamburger, he's never had fizzy drink.  He knows the person who gives him lollies is Nanny!

I have a sixteen year old who works part time - in our house its the ONLY way to get a car cos Mum n Dad won't be buying you one.  He spends days after school and on the weekends as a volunteer fire cadet because 'community' is important.  He still asks to go on a picnic or when can we have a games night.

DD1 & DD2 like to always know whats going on socially, just because they are adults doesn't mean they don't want to do things with us.  The first people they put on lists for party's are family and our friends.

We always eat dinner together at the table.  No one starts until everyone is seated.  I always get thanked for the meal before we start.

I used to think that it was all of the above that made me/us normal.  As I look at the people around me, those that I know and those that I don't know, I realise that this type of normality is hard to find.  I have found more people that I can relate to since joining the blogging world than I can by looking around me.  In a way that makes me sad but also makes me feel not quite like such a freak!!

So, if you've managed to read all the way down here without thinking what a pile of s*^#, I can now tell you that ~

I'M NOT NORMAL ..... I'M DIFFERENT ... I'M REAL .... I'M ME!!!

Hope you have a nice day :)