{ who we are } - yogi. photographer. blacksheep. austin, tx.

Yes, it's true that I have a very active imagination and ridiculously strange sense of humor (the kind that's only funny to me and possibly two other people). I can't help it, this is how I was born. Really.

Let me explain.

Tonight I was asked how I learned to be social. Since I was never in school or any social setting to learn from a young age how other children behaved and what made them laugh, this was a valid question. While others my age were in school or playing T-Ball/Soccer/anything involving other children, I was home alone most days with a lot of pets, several siblings, and hardly any supervision at all. I had to self entertain, which sometimes meant crafting boats of hay to sail horse poop across the pond in the backyard (that's 100% true, I had a witness).

Social skills were the furthest thing from my young mind and I don't remember caring enough about what people said to me to know if they were trying to teach me anything about that at all. One thing I do recall being taught by my eldest sister is the word "sarcastic." It was like she gave me a magic key, I am pretty sure that my face began to glow and my heart beamed golden light. Also I loved when I learned the word "pandemonium" but that came from a book so nobody gets credit for teaching me that except ME, that's who.

Friends, you don't learn how to be this strange, it's like a curse that you go to therapy or spiritual healing to try and sort out (hypothetically, of course). No, really, there came a time through all my trying to fit in, to learn how to maneuver in a social setting without being "all weird and quiet" (quiet is to sit back and try to observe so you make fewer mistakes when actually speaking) that I saw my background not as a handicap, but as a badge of honor. The way I grew up sets me apart, sure, so now I open up more because this stuff is funny and I apologize less because it's not my fault others don't get it and it takes something more obvious to make them laugh (that's sad, sorry for those people).



Social skills, yeah I lack them in the traditional manner. Passing this along to my public school, mainstream bombarded girls is a challenge. I'm just trying to teach them manners, appreciation for good music, and an open mind to the absurdity that they call "mama" (or recently "Mommy" again, which I totally cherish and I'm not sure what brought about the resurrection). I think they are pretty darn lucky to have the balance of extremely traditional and normal with exceptionally odd and open minded. It's also great that they don't have access to horse poop or ponds.