Bah Bah, Black Sheep

It's difficult to explain how I managed to be the renegade sibling in my family.  I didn't start out that way.  When we were kids, my brothers called me The Enforcer.  I'm also the mother bear of my family.  I have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone treating my family poorly.  Even within my family, if an argument comes up, I'll put the person who's wrong in their place.  I also take credit for raising my siblings.  Both of our parents worked, and when they divorced, I became a pseudo parent.  So basically, I was the one keeping everyone in check.  But now I'm the outsider, and I'm okay with that.

The year I moved away and didn't look back.  Two weeks before I started my freshman year of highschool, my mother moved us across the state.  I went kicking and screaming, and counted down the days until I could move back to our hometown.  I graduated from highschool in June, and moved out that summer.  The rest of my siblings are still there, with the exception of one.  My brother joined the Navy this year, and is now stationed on the east coast.  All three of my adult brothers have moved away for a time, but they have all gone back.  My little sister never left.  It's been 11 years since I made a break for it.  Rearview torn off.

The day my mom called me a "Lib".  I was wearing a cute shirt I got from Target that says "Peace is the way."  It has a peace sign on it and a flower.  After she hurled what was supposed to be an insult at me, I replied, "Should my shirt say 'Kill Everyone!!' or 'Violence is the answer'?  I'm pretty sure most people want peace."  I'll tell you what did it.  It was the peace sign.  Since my mother was a child in the 60's, she automatically associates the peace sign with hippies.  She doesn't like hippies.  We weren't allowed to have peace signs on anything when we were kids.  My mom and dad are both pretty conservative in their politics, as are my brothers.  I used to be fairly conservative, but I've become more socially liberal as years have passed.  One of my brothers is even quite active with the local Tea Party.  I say, to each his own, so long as he can compromise.  I'm pro-choice, and believe that all people should have the right to marry the person they love.  Oh, and here's the doozy:  I voted for Obama.  And just for the record, I'm a registered Republican.

I'm not married, and I'm not a virgin.  This goes right against the conservative Mormon upbringing I had.  When I moved in with my now ex-boyfriend, my mom was horrified that I would be living in sin.  Yeah, well.  I had to break it to her that he wasn't even my first.  Sex was never brought up at all in my house growing up.  It was just something married people did.  Not that I wanted gory details, but I was never subjected to "The Talk".


I love my family dearly, but I must say that I'm happy to have blazed my own trail.  This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but they are some major things that stand out right off the top of my head.  It's funny when I tell people I'm the black sheep of the family.  I have never done drugs, even marijuana.  I've never spent a night in jail.  Basically, all those things that are classically thought of as bad behavior.  I regard myself as a normal person.  I'm sure my mother wonders at times where she went wrong.  I'm also sure my brothers still talk about the time I had the audacity to call Sarah Palin an idiot.  But truth be told, they know that I will always be there for them, no matter the color of my fleece.