Kindred

Growing up, I always knew that I was different. While most kids were watching Nickelodeon, I was watching episodes of "Are You Being Served?" on PBS. When asked to use watercolors to depict our favorite movie scenes, I made use of the red-orange and black to recreated the "Tomorrow is another day" scene. I wanted to sing Eartha Kitt's "Uska Dara" in the sixth grade talent show after seeing a documentary about her, but my teacher said that it was weird to sing a Turkish song. Needless to say, I was never a very popular child.

This disparity has followed me all through my existence and has made it extremely difficult to fit in with most of the people I meet. Of course, there is always the surefire method of conforming in order to fit in, but how long can you keep that up before people find out that you really don't think that Bjork's music has the power to end all human suffering? I've settled for accepting the fact that my tastes are just too eccentric for where and when I exist and to duck whenever I see someone swing at me because I'm not a fan of Nascar.

You can imagine my reluctance when my boyfriend asked me to meet his friends, Thomas and China, for brunch this past weekend. I assumed that I'd have to smile hope that his friends would be cool with the fact that I'm 28 years old and I still watch the Cartoon Network and play Super Smash Brothers Brawl in my underwear.

I tried to avoid the topic of music because they're musicians and I wasn't too familiar with their work, so I went the safe route by making various pop culture references during the brunch, including Penelope from Saturday Night Live, and China responded with a spot-on Penelope impersonation. She and Thomas then mentioned several actors and movies that only about five percent of America appreciates and I breathed a sigh of relief.

To further cement their coolness, they treated me to their rendition of "Islands in the Stream" during the car ride back to the hotel. We almost got into an accident on Lake Shore Drive because nobody anticipated what a Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers duet does to my hand-eye coordination.

The clincher happened later that night at their concert when they introduced a delightful Turkish song made famous by the lovely Eartha Kitt. Care to guess which one it was? They performed Uska Dara, the fun little song that my sixth grade teacher thought was too "weird" to sing to an elementary school audience. I shrieked with excitement and possibly caused my boyfriend to lose hearing in his right ear, but it was a small price to pay for this "full circle" moment.


What I learned this past weekend (the ABC After school Special version):

You shouldn't go through life assuming that no one is going to like you because you're different. One day you'll meet other cool people, so just be comfortable with who you are.

What I learned this past weekend (if my mother were telling it to me):

See? See that? You assume and assume and you just end up being wrong. You should pray.