Things I thought were normal

So a few weeks back, I told you that my family is strange. Remember? The nicknames? The answering machine? No? Read this.

Back to my family being strange. We totally are and I'm ok with that. As I've gotten older, I've realized that things I totally thought were normal actually aren't. My sister and I have conducted formal research into things we thought were normal but have since realized are not. We took a poll of our friends (ok so we really asked like 1 or 2 people) to see if their families quote people/situations that happened 10+ years ago. They said no. So no answering machine stories for them or quoting cartoons they watched more than 20 years ago. Hmm how strange.

All of this leads me to something I've started to realize in the past year or so. I have a ridiculous memory. I thought the way I could remember names and faces and things that happened to me and gifts people gave me years ago was normal. But I'm realizing it's not.

Me, minus the sticky notes and string. via

Several months ago, I was in JFK in New York flying back to Maine. While I was in the security line, I saw a woman who looked very familiar but I couldn't place a name to her face. A few minutes later, I realized it was my friend's mom, who I had never met before. I had seen her in a couple of my friend's facebook pictures, but never met her or seen her in real life. I almost went to say hi to her but then I realized, this is not normal. She is going to think I'm a stalker if I go and tell her, "Oh! I recognized you from the 2 pictures of you on Facebook!"

Another example is one of the traditions the Italian side of my family has at weddings. I don't actually know how or why it started (maybe my family can help me here??) but it is amazing. As long as I can remember, we did this:

My Aunt Anne, my Grampa, and my Noni at my Aunt Janine and Uncle Brian's wedding! (Thanks for the pic, Aunt Janine!)

Yes, you are seeing correctly. Those are napkins/doo rags on my grandparents' heads. And that's what I'm talking about. I thought this was normal. Go ahead, take a second to laugh at me and how crazy my childhood must have been to actually believe this was normal.

Apparently I thought it was so normal that I allowed it to occur at my wedding as well. What can I say, I love tradition.

LoLo, Aunt Theresa, and me at our wedding

Aren't they cute? Are they normal? Well, maybe not. But that's part of why I love my family! And part of how I knew LoLo would fit right in. He's not normal either, but he's just the way I need him and love him to be. A normal guy probably wouldn't get my family. LoLo gets us and loves us just the same.

So even though I've realized there are so many reasons my family and I are not normal, I've also realized I wouldn't want us to be any other way. Normal is so overrated!