We have a couch. It’s an amazing couch. It features two side by side rocker/recliners. It’s the only piece of furniture that we own, that came from an actual furniture store to us directly (It was a gift to us from my ex-husband’s parents).
We love that couch. We love it so much that the seams have ripped and the fluff tends to migrate across the house.
So it’s not too terribly unusual to hear me designate one or two children to “Staple the Couch Back Together”. It’s part of cleaning house at our house.
But yesterday, my small son piped up in his adorable (not) sarcastic voice (yes, inherited from me, I’ll own that) and just as serious as could be he said “That’s not what normal families say, Mom!”
Hysterical.
Because, why would we want to be anything other than our abnormal selves?? Where’s the fun, the adventure in THAT??
I rarely post anything on FB, but this time I couldn’t resist. I posted our short interchange. I’ve enjoyed reading the responses.
My favorite? It’s the post from my dear friend who literally did run away and join the circus, and is now head of Audio/Visual for Ringling and Barnum & Baily Circus. No Joke.
Her post? “Meh…Who wants normal??:)”
Hmmm. Well, there are certainly many times that I wish for normalcy. That I wish our family looked like the traditional 2 parent, 4 child family. There are times that I long for normalcy that I see others relish in—yes, that jealousy monster does raise it’s ugly face on occasion. But mostly I just long for normal things like sleep, peace and rest, joy and solidness, health, encouragement, steadfastness.
But it would seem that, that is not the road chosen for me and my crew. We are not normal. O, that makes me laugh out loud, because we are far from normal. And I’m not sure I would want us to be normal. Because by being not normal, we are forced to look at the world through different eyes. We are forced to be creative and appreciative with what God has entrusted us with. And by not being normal, my crew and I are slowly learning to accept this new “abnormalness” of a very different life than what we had thought it would be. Our very non-normalcy, is our normalcy.
O there are many things I would change, so many things, because this most certainly is not what life was supposed to look like. But even in changing those things, we would remain not-normal to a degree.