Thursday, May 01, 2008

You say neurotic like it's a bad thing.

I've noticed that if you tell me that you have a weird little quirk, I immediately adopt it as my own. So if you have any little neurotic twitches, please for the love of God, don't tell me. I now have so many it's hard to keep track.

For example, when visiting Scott's family over Christmas, my sister-in-law asked me to hand her a glass out of the cabinet. I had been passing out plastic tumblers to the kids, so I handed her one. She told me, "No, a glass glass. I have this thing about drinking out of plastic." Until that moment, it had never crossed my mind to not like plastic glasses, but by golly, I have not grabbed a plastic glass since.

Similarly, a friend told me she never drinks the last bit of milk; she'll open a new gallon and leave the last of the other gallon for somebody else to finish. I have no idea why she does that; maybe she once had a roommate that drank out of the jug. But now I've got it in my head that the last bit of milk in the container is undesirable, if not downright unfit for human consumption. I keep meaning to ask her how she knows when she's gotten to the icky milk. And is it okay to give my kids the icky milk? I have a hunch that it's not okay if they're just drinking it straight, but I'm undecided if it's okay for cereal. And is it presumptuous of me to have hunches on the details of someone else's quirk?

Some quirks skip a generation. My mother and daughter are both convinced that bathroom water tastes different from kitchen water. I think they both taste...wet, but whatever. Who am I to argue with someone's sincerely held belief? I'll tell you who I am; I'm the tired mama tromping back downstairs between bedtime stories to fetch a glass of water with ice. In a glass glass, thank you very much.

3 comments:

Growing Hearts said...

You're so funny, Wendy!!! I love reading your blog! You make me laugh...and I needed a laugh today with two sick kids, a grouchy old dog, a puppy who thinks she's Jaws in canine form, and a house that is uber-messy! :)

michelle said...

You mean like how it drives me crazy when people "dip into" the butter instead of taking it off the top in swirls so that it always looks flat?

Is that neurotic?

We all have out little quirks about us that make us unique.

I have to admit though, that this morning as I poured my milk from the bottom of the carton, all I could think about was how I was going to have to force myself to drink the icky milk and that the next guy would be the one with the fresh carton.

Michelle
www.northofthe49.com

Mama Said said...

You are so funny! It makes me want to share my neurotic quirks that I've picked up from other people, but I don't want to burden you with them. I've spent years wishing I had never heard them which made me think about them and take them on as my own! I think we need some sort of support group for this! LOL!