Being Normal

My roommate and I have been in search of a third person to share our apartment. In this search, we have come across several individuals who show questionable social graces and/or kind of actually scare us. Apparently, that is why those individuals are looking for a place to live. After these experiences, my roommate said to me last night, "Thank you for being normal." It was funny, because I knew what she meant - she was thanking me for not having major emotional issues and for being able to deal with others in a friendly, non-confrontational, aggressive way. But when I thought about being thanked for being normal, I thought it was funny, because I don't really consider myself normal (nor do I really know what that means). I had actually been a bit concerned that my free-spiritedness had freaked her out a bit, I know that for some people, I can take a bit of getting used to. But she seemed okay with the fact that I named our house after an ice cream flavor, and made a sign to advertise that name. She says that she is pretty random in the way her thoughts work also, so she follows and is not so bothered by the fact that mine jump from topic to topic without an obvious (though of course it makes sense to me) trail from A to Z. I guess it's really funny to be thanked for being normal because I don't even aspire to be normal. I just really want to be me. A good person, and someone who cares about others and hopefully make a positive impact on the lives of those I am in contact with. But my own version of that, not some "normal" model of what society and those around me profess a person is "supposed" to be like. I tried that at one point in my life, and it didn't fit. So I discarded it and started over. The truth is, I love not being normal, and not being like everyone else. I like being unique and feeling like I am being true to who I am, not trying to impress or pacify anyone else by acting like I am expected to. That doesn't mean that I act crazy or out of control, it just means that I make my own decisions, I don't follow the leader necessarily and that I can be happy not being a carbon copy of the model on the most popular magazine. So I am taking my roommate's statement as the compliment that I know she meant it to be. But secretly, I will remember the statement of one of my professors in college, "Normal people are the ones you don't know." And I know that my roommate obviously hasn't gotten to know me that well yet.