Not Your Average Bear...

Boo Boo.

Okay, let's clarify. I'm not your normal girl/woman, Bais Yaakov or otherwise. I can hear you guys saying, "Yeah yeah, CR, tell us something new." But I just want to let you know that as far as I remember I was always like this.

I was the only girl in my school whose parents were divorced. I was the only girl in my school who read science fiction, and the fact that I took the SATS in seventh, eighth and ninth grade didn't help me fit in either. But the most distinguishing characteristic of all that separated me from the other girls, was that I had no relatives living in Oz.

I really felt the pain of being different when I was in eighth grade. I tried to fit in so desperately, but it just didn't work out the way I wanted. Towards the middle of that year I came to the realization that I was going to be happy with who I was, and friends with everyone. When the cool girls were friendly and wanted to hang, we did; when they didn't, I hung around with the "nebby" girls, the "spazs", the "brains", and girls in the older and younger grades. That doesn't really sound right. What I mean is that if someone just wanted to be my friend it automatically meant that she was.

I went to B'nos, Bnei Akiva, and NCSY. To all you smart asses out there, No, I didn't go to Pirchei, but I had some buds who did. I finally did find a crowd of my own, but I still didn't feel 100% accepted. I guess no one really does, but when you're a teenager the only person that you think is suffering is you.

I was speaking with a friend tonight, and we were talking about how people in her family think about her. That conversation brought the past back to me, and it hurt to hear the pain in her voice. I'm very lucky that my family never cared what I did. Well, yes they did, but what I mean was they never cared if I was different. Maybe that's because my family is so diverse and yes, strange. They only were concerned if you didn't follow your heart not if you followed the norm.

Accepting people for who they are without judging is now an intrinsic part of who I am. I'm trying to pass this along to DB and it makes me proud to see through the different children that he has chosen as friends that he is already internalizing this trait.