Strange - Part 2

This is a follow-up post to my Joan Jett-themed one from the other day about being a little strange.
There is something else a little bit weird. At least I've always thought so.
Somehow, for many years now (and the reference should help date it) I've felt like I was living life somewhere between a Dead Show and an episode of Frasier. ... ok ... yes, I know it is strange.

Many years ago I was told, by a guy named Jeff W., that I wasn't hippy enough to be a hippy. I thought it was a really odd thing to be told, but it also seemed to be a constant theme. People seem to think I am one thing only to find out, as I've also been told, that I'm not exactly what they expected (thanks guys from Shooting Creek Brewery).

Too often I don't fit in for the following various reasons:
*I don't do enough drugs. --- Though marijuana shouldn't be counted as a drug, it is & in my life it has had the greatest impact. I don't care if you smoke pot, I don't think there is anything wrong with it, I just don't smoke it anymore. Personal reasons. Yet, even though I support your right to it, I've lost friends over it. Several times. I guess some would think it is wiser to be friends with people who can get you illegal drugs than people who just want to hang out with you. Stupid. -- Other drugs .. well, it's your life but my opinions are another story.
*I like to drink & party. -- I'm having a drink as I type this. (Does it show? I've been watching the Academy Awards .. don't you have to drink to get through that? Am I getting sloppy .. oy) Yes, we have kids. We don't really drink in front of the kids at all. Our idea of partying probably isn't too different from what our grandparents thought of it (maybe more cussing & jell-o shots), but in today's helicopter-parenting culture it is almost taboo.
*I support being green AND being frugal -- you'd be amazed how often these two are completely contradictory, though I'd argue they originally went hand in hand. When did Passive House become a money making, revolutionary idea (Adam Cohen, you're a tool!)?
*I cuss -- Fuck off and get over it. There are worse things in life you prudes.
*I follow my own path -- I lost a friend once because I decided to see if I really had what it took to eat meat, which at the time meant, could I kill my own food? Could I confront that issue? I could, but the friendship was gone.
*I'm honest -- People love me for my honesty, but thoroughly hate me for it too.


So, there it is. About being strange, part 2. About being too loud, too vulgar for some and about being not wild-enough for others. There ya go. You can read this and you will still probably meet me and think "you're not what I was expecting." It's ok, I don't care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change! ;)

"I don't care if you think I'm strange.."

"I ain't gonna change!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAQXg0IdfI ~ Thank You Joan Jett!!


~This is me, Fall of 2008~

Early Fall 2008 my mother and stepfather took the boys to the beach with them for the week. One condition, I took care of her dogs. No worries, I just scooted over there a couple of times a day (though her aging St. Bernard did make that week more hellish than it ought to have been).
On my way back and forth from her house to ours, I would see mothers out, pushing little ones in strollers. It transported me back to earlier days.

*Back to frat parties where I was the only person with dreadlocks, wearing a rugby shirt and cord pants. Only person - no chicks with 'em, no guys either. Where I looked around and noticed that all the girls were wearing the same basic 2 outfits, just in slightly different colors. *ALL OF THEM*

*Back to when I was pregnant with Tristan and in a friend's store with Shannon in tow, running about the racks of clothing. She introduced me to a fella she was talking to, and he made a comment: "So, now you're whole life is just your kids?" My instinctively sharp response of "No!" shocked not just him but me as well. I love my kids, and to some degree they ARE my world. But I haven't stopped being me. Since when did being a stay-at-home mom mean that you have no life other than your kids? Add being a homeschooler to this and you've sealed the coffin on your own life in too many people's eyes.

So .. what do these memories have to do with moms walking kids in strollers? Well, for starters, they all looked alike to me. Same 2 or 3 strollers, same work-out wear, same hairstyles.
Ah .. hairstyles.
Yes .. I kinda had a freak-out moment. An "I'm not one of those moms" moment. And so I died my hair pink. Really PINK. Pink enough that people stopped calling me Justin, aka my husband,'s mom and started ID'ing me for booze. -- Seeing as I've now been called Justin's mom 5 .. yes FIVE times now, I do like the effect the pink hair had on getting me carded again.
A friend later told me that I could don a brown wig with a conservative haircut, khakis, a button-down shirt, and loafers and I still would stand out. -- Probably true. Thank you Joann.

I feel like a dad, for lack of better description, among mom's groups. I stand there talking about beer and football. I am not dressed like they are.
Even when I try to go girly, at least in my mind, I don't fit in with the moms. As part of the Alice in Wonderland merchandising frenzy, OPI has released Alice-themed nail polish colors. Oh yes, I HAVE to have them. I will have them!!! Glittery, sparkly blue? Mad Hatter sparkly purple? Oh, come to mama! However, these apparently, are not mom-approved colors.

And you know what, I don't care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change!


*****NOTE - Justin read this, patted me on the shoulder and said "Yep, you're a dad among moms" .... yup .... ******