“Yeah, probably.”
“Good. It's feels normal when you
come over.”
“I'm normal?”
“Having you in the house is normal
now.”
Essentially, there is no 'normal.'
Maybe there is an average, or a dominating trend in society, but who
decided what is 'normal' and what is 'not normal?' Being someone who
has been called 'not normal' for most of my life, I take pride in the
fact that I tend to go against the norm. (Hey, look! My face isn't
buried in an electronic device permanently attached to my palm!)
Getting back to the conversation
above, it was between my sister's boyfriend and me. Having this
22-year-old male passing out in a food coma on our couch or
discussing race cars and football in his booming voice with my dad
gives me this strange feeling of comfort. Wow, someone outside the
realm of my sister, my dad, and me can function in our house?! I
am constantly bogged down by the insecurity that our house has this
gross musty smell infesting the carpet that's older than me, and the
dirt encrusted in random objects that no one bothered to clean is
less-than-appealing. Even I found the house repulsive when I returned
from a year away.
Yet, finally, it's not just Dad, Sister, Me. Dad, who goes to work all day and disappears on weekends
to shoot pool. Sister, who is either at class, at work, and will act as if communication would kill her. And me, who works
from home, finds refuge in my bike, and wonders how long I'll be
living here.
Enter Sister's Boyfriend. Male. Talks
of sports, cars, and can eat more than I thought humanly possible.
Sister's Boyfriend, for whom I keep a bottle of TUMS in the cabinet.
Sister's Boyfriend, who bought me waffles at 1am when I was having
one of those nights. Sister's Boyfriend, who makes me feel like an
actual person, not 'the sister, so I have to be nice her.' I believe he's my friend, and a gateway to spending more time with my sister.
I've come to terms with my family.
There is no cookie-cutter family. No manual that says “Family does
this at this time with this person in this place. They live here, and
have this pet, and they name this pet this.” We live in our row
home in Upper Darby; we make do with the neighbors who curse their
kids out, and the death of the stray cat we tried to save. We are
related by blood, but not interests. While it sucks to accept this,
that's just what I'm doing. We are not all going to sit at the dinner
table or hug each other. I love them, and they know that. And that's
enough for them.
I've got to make it enough for me.
That's where Sister's Boyfriend comes
in. And my other friends. I may not have loads of friends, but the
ones I've got are pretty damn good. You can't choose your family, so
choose your friends wisely. And even if all those friends just
deserted me, guess what? I've got my Lord, who is the best friend you
could ever imagine. So, I'm gonna be all right.
Still, it is nice to see a new face in
the house. And even nicer when the new face decides to stay a while.
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