Skip to main content

One of Those Things You Probably Didn't Need to Know About Me

We're interesting creatures. My husband once yelled at me for not taking out the overflowing garbage can, "You're the stupidist smart person I've ever known!" I chased him down in the rain and tried to explain my absent-mindedness. Apparently, my doe-eyed "I didn't realize it needed to go out" look didn't cut it with him.

I meant it.

So did he.

There was a time in my life when that statement would have sent me on a life quest to figure out what the hell was wrong with me for not being able to read his mind and keep my quirkiness from gushing forth like Old Faithful. (I mean, come on, I really should have noticed that a black banana peel was blocking the cupboard door from shutting.) As I've come to grips with the fact that I'm just another whackjob in the world, I've found that those quirky pieces of me are just part of my fabric. And I can drop the perfection facade and show the real me. Like the fact that in my perfect world, I can go for three days without a shower as long as I put a ball cap on my stringy hair in public, but knowing that at this moment my CDs are out of alphabetical order is making my skin crawl.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Could be you are missing the point. Aint the man tough and brainy enuff to carry out the trash him selbst?

The Polymath Penguin
Christy said…
Haha! I sometimes play dumb on purpose to get out of dirty jobs like that :) But it's so nice to be solid enough to stop looking for the definition of myself in what other people say.

Popular posts from this blog

Pardon the Interruption

It's 10:00. My race clothes are laying across the top of the dog crate. I've already consumed my all-natural sleep aid. The alarm is set for 4:45 in the morning. I should be sleeping, but my mind is spinning at an unnatural rate. Remember this poem ? The subject of that poem married just a few weeks ago, and I just finished looking through his wedding photos. It's a strange feeling. Not one of loss. Or Regret. Or even wistfulness. I'm thoroughly happy for both of them in a way that will seriously not make sense to most of the people I know. I suppose there will always be an odd sense of knowing in a situation like this. I know the feel of those lips. I've seen that look in his eyes. What I felt for him was real and pure and drives the feeling of satisfaction that is currently overwhelming me. I love knowing that he's in love--even if it's not with me. I even saved my favorite photo to my computer because the image stirred something in me that needs to be sti...

On Muchness

A dear friend confessed to me last night that he had lost his muchness and found it again. I confessed the same and even admitted the ridiculous series of events that recently sapped my own muchness. That little confession seemed to do wonders. It's so easy to fall out of step with myself. In fact, I do it quite naturally. Growing up in a Christian home, I took to heart the instructions to love my neighbor more than I love myself. Oh, wait! I just checked the scripture. "Love your neighbor as yourself." I may have been doing this the wrong way. I ended 2010 with the resolution that I would no longer make decisions out of fear. I am starting 2011 with the resolution to make decisions based on what I want. I've struggled with this because I've always believed that I should consider the needs and wants of others before my own. I'd like to think this is a valiant approach, but the truth is that it only leads to martyrdom...and I don't think I was given the opp...

TMI and Tidal Waves

As usual, it's been a busy week around these parts, and none of my activities this week involved running. If my grandmother could hear at the moment and complete a sentence without hacking up a lung, she'd ask me what's wrong. I'd have to confess that my eczema has flared up in this oh-so-cold-there's-ice-on-my-car south Florida weather, and my skin is so itchy that I have bruises up and down my limbs from all the scratching I've been doing. There are some days I'm relieved to know men with calloused hands. (Before you take that last comment too seriously, remind yourself that I am writing this at 9:30 on a Friday night.) Anyway... I met up for coffee with someone last night who proved to stoke my creative juices. I'll spare you the details of the conversation, but I did have to stop him mid sentence to point out that that particular conversation will most definitely become part of "La Isla Encontrada." Fortunately, he agreed to it, and I fully...