Saturday, June 16, 2007

Eccentricity

Though I am a very particular kind of girl and like to have things just so, I've never thought of myself as eccentric. In my mind there is some boundary between my preferred way of doing things and an eccentricity.

It's not that I consider an eccentricity weird or wrong or anything, really. I guess it's just that being gay has always made me conscious of the ways that I already stand out in the world. I don't feel restricted because of my sexual orientation --- I'm out and proud and all that --- but in the back of my mind there is an awareness that this isn't okay with everyone. So I keep my other eccentricities private.

I often wonder about this. Am I being totally honest with myself and the world? Is it eccentric or weird that I like my underwear to match my clothes? Is my devotion to the color red and to pink flowers bordering on the odd? Is my need to read magazines and the newspaper cover-to-cover somehow limiting me?

When is an eccentricity quirky and charming? When is it a boundary to living a full life?

5 comments:

Shark Butt said...

Your eccentricities are quirky and charming. Trust me on this one.

bonggamom said...

Your "eccentric" habits sound perfectly normal to me! Unless you also read all the classified ads ;)

Betty Carlson said...

Nothing sounds all that eccentric, although you might want to release yourself from the "cover-to-cover" mentality. I did so with books and found it freed me up immensely.

DJPare said...

Okay that last one about reading a mag all the way through may be eccentric - I mean some articles just suck and need to be skipped... :)

Patois42 said...

Um, I don't find anything eccentric about you. Are you holding back on us?