Normal

I am not normal. Never have been. Don't expect I ever will be. It's never been one of my goals.

Normal is a word I'm hearing all the time now. It's being used to describe finally being able to get our lives back to ... what they were before the pandemic.

But normal is one of those words that is way too vague and wide-ranging to be a useful description. Maybe it's because it's used so often for so many different situations that it's become meaningless. Part of it is because what's normal for me probably isn't normal for you. Or you. Or you, either.

For example, my mother was cold blooded. Okay, that doesn't sound right. She never killed anyone. Although she did have a death glare that indicated she was nearing the end of her patience that could stop people in their tracks, business associates or children.

What I mean is that she was always cold, at least until the thermometer hit 90º. Even as a child, I was much warmer than she was, all the time. I lived with the "Put on a sweater, I'm cold" syndrome my entire life. Chilly was normal for her and she just couldn't fathom that everyone didn't feel the same.

It also popped up in other ways. Once I made brownies for a cat-themed party in one of my girl's classes, and I cut the brownies with a cat-shaped cookie- cutter. What was left in the pan was odd-looking, I'll admit. My mother's question was, "Why can't you cut them like a normal person?"

Perhaps because I heard this type of nonsensical question so often from her, I've always been careful to question things in a more open-ended way, no matter how strange they look. Something like, "How'd you end up with these interesting scraps?"

One day I came across a small book of anecdotes from an author's life. I can't track it down right now, but I believe it was an early book by Linda Shepherd. The magnificent title was, Normal Is A Setting On My Dryer.

That was it! The answer I needed. That normal makes sense. It's a description of a specific thing that doesn't depend on anyone's personal view. I quote it whenever anyone says something is normal.

Personally, I'd prefer being described as one-of-a-kind, funny, kind or quirky. Any or all of them, thank you very much.