You Are Not Too Much of Anything for Me

If you tell me I have an interesting life, I will assume you mean it as a compliment.

Which is exactly what I did when a friend said as much to me the other night, but upon further reflection, it occurs to me that he could have simply been using "interesting" as a euphemism for "odd."

I am aware that it takes some adjustment to get used to not only the way I live, but the way I look at life because while most people have accepted the terms and requirements of 21st century life, I opted out on a lot of issues.

Let's not devote so much as a drop of virtual ink to my choice to live without a cell phone, but that could be Exhibit "A" to make my point about my oddness.

When the subject of punctuality arose with a new friend recently, I made sure he knew how I wanted to be notified of his impending tardiness. I don't.

What's that, he asked incredulously? You don't want me to call and notify you that I'll be late?

I do not.

Like in the olden days, I will patiently wait for you, occupying myself with thought, reading or conversation if someone's around. All in all, I'll give you around 30 or 40 minutes, after which if you still haven't appeared, I may move on.

I find few things as annoying as being with someone who is constantly answering texts about their location and touchdown time as we head to the rendezvous. It's like no one can stand to wait for anyone any more without constant updates on their coordinates and estimated arrival time.

People new to my life learning that I feel that way could see it as odd.

Ditto my devotion to correspondence. I was thrilled to open a Christmas gift of stationery this evening, the better to dazzle the two people with whom I regularly exchange letters. In fact, it's so appealing, I may put pen to paper and try to tease out a new correspondent with it.

Interesting or odd, your call.

Now that binge-watching TV shows has become the cultural norm, I'm out of the loop when talk turns to who's seen what and why. It doesn't bother me to be left out of the conversation when it turns to which series are worth the time investment, but it's become obvious that TV watching is enough of a hot topic for it to come up three times in a week with various people.

Any of whom may think I'm odd, interesting or even misguided for my lack of interest in "Westworld" or "Parks and Rec" or whatever it is that keeps them in the television-watching majority.

But just to set the holiday record straight, tonight I could be found with family in front of a fire watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas," followed by "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (both in gloriously-restored overly saturated colors unlike anything from my youth) as if I were watching TV like a regular person.

Tell me where the appeal is in a regular life when I've got complimentary euphemisms being tossed around about mine.

Fact is, I'm perfectly happy with odd. Interesting, isn't it?