Brown Shoes

So I don't know if anyone else feels like this, but I have always felt like I was different. My first best friends were boys, and I have not always been able to relate to girls my age.

While most of the girls my age had been going clubbing in their early 20s, I was married, divorced, and a mother by the time I was 25.

Looking back, there are things that I wanted to do that I didn't get a chance to accomplish before my 30s. I still haven't been to a club with gal pals, or anyone for that matter, and I still haven’t found what would make my happy as far as my career.

There's a vintage quote that I love. It was said by George Gobel when he was a guest on the Tonight Show, when it was hosted by Johnny Carson (gods rest his soul). He said, and I quote:

You ever feel like the world is a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes.

I have always found that anecdote to be funny. In general, Johnny Carson was a comedic genius. All he had to do was look at the camera and he would have the audience rolling. But I digress.

The point is, I have always been a little different. Okay, maybe a lot different. I have made decisions that may seem backwards to most people. There have been a few people that would look at me funny when I did something off the wall or that made no sense whatsoever.

But you know what I end up doing when this happens? I shrug my shoulders, look around and say "What," like I have no reason to think that my shenanigans are not normal behavior.

Normal people, in general, don't want to be unique.  Most of them want to conform with like-minded individuals.  In some cases, it can be a good thing.  But to be perfectly honest, it's not really my bag.  It might have been once upon a time, but I have grown older, and, hopefully, a little wiser on my view on things.

I prefer to be different.  It's more fun that way.  Though I am not about to be a pair of brown shoes.  I like to think that the world is not a tuxedo in today's society.  Today's society is that pair of brown shoes, and I just happen to be a pair of neon-colored funky knee high socks.  My life and persona are too flambloyant and too bold to be boring.  As I have always known all too well, life is too short to take it too seriously.

So here's my final thought:

Don't be a pair of brown shoes.  Be the pair of funky socks.  It's more fun that way.