Out of Sync

One of my defining characteristics is that I don't fit in. When I was a teenager, it was a source of great anxiety to me, but now it is sort of a source of pride. Don't fit in, don't want to fit in and you can't make me fit in.

How am I out of sync? Let me count the ways.

• I am devoted to my ultraconservative religion (LDS) but I am an increasingly passionate liberal about politics.
• I am a femnist and a career woman in a traditional "stay at home" culture.
• I not only work, but I travel for a living and believe me, when my kids were young that was not a popular choice. Shockingly they have become practically perfect adults and I am just thankful I wasn't a better mother or they would have been unbearably perfect.
• I would rather read a book than go to a sporting event any day of the week and I live in DENVER.
• Like I said, I'm a liberal--but I am pro-life (almost always, but on the other hand, who am I to say what is right for someone else in more challenging circumstances than I can imagine?).
• Like I said, I'm liberal--but conflicted.
• Utah is my home state & Colorado is my adopted state, but I don't ski even though it is mandatory in both states.
• I'm a grandmother, but I wear my hair long & I'm a fan of big dangly earrings. I never met an age-appropriate outfit that I wanted to buy.
• I act like an extrovert, but I truly am an introvert. It usually takes me about five years to really like someone. If you are one of my friends, thank you very much for hanging in with me for those first five years. I would rather clean toilets than go to a party with people I don't know. Which is a problem because I am the vice-president of human resources in a company where the occasional cocktail party is required.
• Which is another problem because I am usually the only one at aforementioned cocktail parties who doesn't drink, hence I seem even more socially backward than usual, if you can imagine.
• My idea of the absolutely perfect social activity is a book club where I have known all the members for at least five years. Happily, I belong to two such clubs.
• I love my mother an unreasonable amount. I blame her for everything good in my life.

Oh, there are so many more ways that I don't fit in and I look forward to exploring them and reveling in them.