Whenever you feel like a freak in the world because you’re a faithful Catholic who has remained open to life and you have house full of kids and you wonder if everyone was right because you’re stretching your last nerve ending, you should stop and read this post at Creative Minority Report.
A friend said to me the other day upon learning my wife is pregnant, “Again! Are you crazy? You’re never going to be able to have a normal life.”
A normal life? I wonder what that means.
Every once in a while someone says something which makes you view your life from an outside perspective. They kind of poke your soul and prod some doubts. Am I ruining my life? Am I filling up my already crowded house too much? Can I afford this many children? (We’re having our fifth) Is my life…abnormal? I was kind of in a funk all day about it.
Go ahead and read the whole thing, but the conclusion he comes to is that when his friend speaks of a “normal life”, what he really means is “an abnormal life in the Me-centric universe.” When people worry about how many kids you’re having, perhaps they’re really wondering about the implicit judgment upon a life wrapped up in itself.
[Link via Amy Welborn]Technorati Tags: family | children | parenthood |
In our Bizarro culture, you’ve encountered the perception of “normal”. How sad!
My first thought for a reaction was, “Good God, I hope I’m not having a ‘normal’ life!” Maybe that would shake up the person making the comment enough to get them to think about what they’d just said and what it really means.