The Black Sheep of the Family

An appropriate bit of rambling as I gather my things to head for my yearly Family Reunion at Chico Park.

"The Black Sheep of the Family"

That’s a funny phrase to me.  Like being a sheep that is black is such a bad thing.  But as with all colloquialisms…it comes to mean something beyond the basic words.  So my understanding of being “The Black Sheep of the Family”…is that you’re the “bad one”.  Not necessarily the one in prison or the one on the run from the law…although those probably apply…but just the one who isn’t the norm, the one who didn’t follow along. 

Of course...I can't help but comment that sheep do not choose their color...so I'm not entirely sure who thought up this particular phrase.  The things you do that cause you to be the Black Sheep...are pretty much things you choose to do...unlike the poor little sheep who was born black and had no choice in the matter.  But back to the phrase and it's apparent meaning...

Now generally speaking…I like the folks who don’t follow the norm.  I like the folks who march to the beat of their own drum and do their own thing.  I used to make the bleating “baa” noise at my kids when they wanted to do something “because everyone else was doing it” or because “everyone else has one”.  I didn’t want them making their choices based on the herd.  Is it a herd of sheep?  Anyway – I wanted them to have original thoughts and think outside the box.  Not to the point of being outcast…but just to the point of having some individuality. 

Wow…now it sounds like I have something against sheep in general.  I do not.  I like sheep.  Especially the little ones…they are so cute.  And Lamb Chop…so cute!  Oh, and the sheep on the mattress commercials!  Woops…'nother tangent.

Ok, back to the point.  So if being The Black Sheep is being different but in a bad way…I really can’t be The Black Sheep of the Family.  I’ve never been on drugs.  I’ve never been in jail.  Hell, I’ve never smoked pot.  My worst offense is a speeding ticket here and there and getting busted for shoplifting when I was 15.  Not exactly a crime spree.  I’m not your average Super Villain.

However…I am completely different from everyone in my family.  Everyone on both sides…Mom’s AND Dad’s.  I’m agnostic.  I like doom metal.  I don’t like to fish.  I would rather hang out with friends than go to family events.  I have no interest in farming.  I hate living in the country or in a tiny, little rural town.  I don’t watch football or Nascar.  I have a navel piercing and tattoos.  I showed up to family events with blue hair…  I showed up with long haired, hippie boyfriends.  I freaked them all out in my 80’s rock big hair days…and in my gothic days.  They loved me anyway… but I freaked them out a little.  I had a sticker on my car that says “I scare my own family” and many of them agreed.  I eat hummus.  I like to go to the opera.  I collect weapons that are not guns.  I watch movies with subtitles.  I got married in a museum instead of a church.  And oh yeah…I’m a cast member at a Renaissance Festival and I like comic books and Firefly.

So yeah…I am the somewhat atypical member of both sides of my family…but not the bad one who calls for bail money or who shows up to the funeral drunk and throws their self on the casket.  I’m not the one they don’t talk about or the one they are ashamed to be related to.  I’m just the oddball.

I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I am the purple sheep of the family…with a bright pink bow on my ear.