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[annieover]

When you are an outsider child, people are constantly telling you that you are strange, weird, gross, scary, unattractive.  If you are lucky, by your teens you have learned to avoid people who don't appreciate weirdness. You do it consciously in your teens, seeking out "kindred spirits", protecting and nurturing yourself by closing off avenues of

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[annieover]

Oh, nothing truly horrid happened. I just started thinking about it because Hen was being odd (because he hasn't learned to hide his "odd" and I love and encourage his eccentricity). He asked me if I'd ever coughed while I was drinking and made my drink fly all over the place. Of course, I have and there is a notorious food spitting incident that some of my dearest friends still tease me about. But when I recently described this incident to a relatively new acquaintance, she looked at me aghast and said that was one of the most disgusting things she had ever heard. It only slightly uncomfortable, but a little warning light went off to tell me to be extra careful about what I did/said/revealed to this person in the future.

I guess I consider myself fortunate to have surrounded myself with so many kindred spirits(and I do include you in that category) that I no longer think of them as an incredibly, direly small group of people. Although I still feel spiritually lonely at times, I no longer feel completely alone in the universe like I did when I was really young.

[livsmama]

I know this feeling with my children as well.