On Being Normal?

   
      So I am on my second bout of Bronchitis in less than a month. As I was told- I will never have a "normal" cold again.   It's my own fault.  At the tail end of the first one I jumped right back in to life (a little too soon) and when hubby got sick, I didn't "quarentine" myself by sleeping on the couch.  Add in my RLD and I basically did myself in.   I wanted to go to see my parents this weekend but that's not going to happen.  I am not subjecting them to my germs (Mama's been sick- I am not contributing to her getting sick again) and I am not goign to ruin their Valentine's Day by keeping them up all night hacking.

     What we did do though was go out and buy two new Vicks Humidfiers.  One for the bedroom and one for downstairs.  Hubby slept upstairs last night and before he went to bed he put in one of the Vicks Vapo Pads for the humidifer.  He seems to be feeling better today so perhaps it helped.  I napped for 5 hours yesterday so I couldn't get to sleep last night and ended up falling asleep on the couch.  I will try it out tonight.  Since I can't take anything that contains Tylenol any longer (due to the liver damage from the MTX- insert sad face here) I will keep taking my Alka-Selzer Cough and Cold with Bayer Asprin and drink lots of tea and water.

     So that's my abnormal cold situation that led to this contemplation.  Another lovely effect from the off-shoot RLD from the RA.  If I have learned one lesson in my almost 10 years with RA is that even my "New Normal" will change far more often than I will be comfortable with.  Each time there is a new diagnosis, each time there is a new limitation or restriction there is a new, new, "New Normal".  I find, running through my head fairly often "What IS normal?"

     I don't think I have EVER been normal.  I had a very un-traditional upbringing.  Being a military brat, while forcing you to be highly adaptive, is not normal.  Even though there are thousands upon thousands of kids like us- we each have our own situations.  You could line up a thousand of us and I doubt you would find two who were not sibs that had been in the same bases, in the same order.  It's about as different from someone who lives in one place their entire life as you can get.  I am also so blessed that I have a wonderful, loving family who actually enjoys spending time together but even that's not "normal".  How many people do you know who have good relationships with their parents, siblings, In-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles?  My only relationship that is "not great" is with my grandmother.  Most people I know from all different age groups are not as fortunate as I am with their family situations.  I give thanks for mine every single day.  

     Even within my own family, I was always the "weird" one.  My interests were and still are all over the map.  I am not the "brave one"- that would be Heather.  I am not the "sweet one"- that would be Lisa.  I am the..."curious one."  I want to see everything and try everything. I am the one who loves to try new food from all over the world- Seaweed is a tasty snack.  I am the one who read all about and researched all different faiths until I realized that it's okay to be "spiritual" with out an organized religion.  I am the one who loves all things Halloween, who loves a good scary movie, who loves to write and read and can fall down a rabbit hole on Google.  I am the one who read everything I could about Salem (and the Witch Trials) and spent many, many years heading down there for Halloween.  I always thought I would write something set there until I realized that most of what I write is non-fiction.  I am the one who has been known to change my hair color with my mood (I have been from Platinum Blonde to Jet Black) and my style on a whim.  I am the one who enjoys acting- from Arsenic and Old Lace in High School to my Haunted Houses and even consider customer service a bit of a show but I have not one ounce of artistic ability. I am the one who loves movies and tv shows based on comic books and crime dramas and Game of Thrones and horror and good comedies and has to have IMDB up so I can see who is playing what character and check out all of the trivia.  I am the one who is crazy about the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox. I am the one who is even more crazy about all things Harry Potter.  I am the one who lives for "Jammie time" and would be happy if yoga gear became the new "business casual" and siesta became the norm.   I am the one who loves every bit of music from classical to jazz to country, to metal to hip-hop to pop.  I am the one who treats my puppies like they are kids because I miss my kid like crazy. I am the one who is excited to be an instant grandma when Josh gets married next year because I don't believe in "steps".  I am the one who still wishes I had a pony- even though I know I couldn't take care of it myself any longer.  Speaking of which- thankfully, I am the only one who ended up with the autoimmune illnesses and in doing so I am the one who is learning to be grateful while I learn to live with the pain. I am the one who can live with pain FAR more easily than with exhaustion.  Exhaustion is my kryptonite.   The weird one- yep, that's me.

I saw the most true Meme today and posted it to my Facebook page.  It's me in a nutshell.

I have decided to just say "To Hell with Normal!"  I have decided that it's okay to be the weird one- because some of the best people are.