Growing up, my family never thought is was the best family. I had issues with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. My dad had his issues from his life as military brat. My mother felt bad about the problems I have. When I was in 6th grade, in the midst of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, my mother put me into counseling. I've been going on and off since. My family even had family meetings. My mother loved to quote one of my counselors. "We're dysfunctional, but cohesive." Looking back now, I see my family may have been one of the few functional families. We just felt as if we were abnormal. In this day and age, my family is a sane family.
Because of counseling, thanks to me, my family would joke about our problems. It was one way to cope. Well, one day, my mother decided to watch the box office bomb,Stuart Saves His Family movie, as soon as it was out for rent. It made my mother realize our family is sane. She loved the movie. The way she felt about that movie, it seemed to me that the movie confronted issues from her generation as children that most people wouldn't discuss. In the end, while the Smalley family was very dysfunctional, they came together when needed. My mother enjoyed that. Our family seemed to be the same. We may have our share of problems, but we still together, even after my mother's death. "We're dysfunctional, but cohesive."
Why am I talking about this? Well, there is this one scene in the movie where Stuart's brother, Donnie, is shot by their drunk father. Jodie, Stuart's sister, calls him to come home to help with the family. That scene came to my mind today as I checked my voice mail. Nicki sounded just like Jodie in her message telling me that Beth got in a car accident. I laughed at the message. With time, it became funny. I bet my mother would have thought the same at the call. If not, I know for sure that once I gave my opinion about the message, she would have laughed and agreed.
My mother and I often thought alike. One night, we were watching about the Natalee Holloway case. Bless that girl's family, It's such a shame they've lost a loved one. Anyway, as we were watching about the case, the TV was showing footage of Natalee as part of a flag corps. I had mentioned that Natalee seemed to be off rhythm from the others. My mother broke into laughter. She laughed, not because the girl was missing, but because she was thinking the same thing! She laughed at how tuned in I was to the same thing she was thinking.
As for the counseling, the more I observe life and the more I speak with others, including the school counselor, the more I see that I am abnormal. However, I'm abnormal in a good way. In fact, in 2006, I'm probably a lot more normal than most people. I must have had my share of abnormality earlier in life than most people. 
[♪ Listening to: "When The Wrong One Loves You Right" - Céline Dion]
Posted by Shawn at May 19, 2006 6:01 PM in Memories.
