I’ve always been weird.
I used to want to fit in, and I never quite managed. I’m glad I lived into the Grand Age of Weirdness, as I like to call the times we are all living in right now, in February of 2016. Now I hear things like, “KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!” and I think, ah, the time of my people is NOW.
I’m weird in ways that contradict each individual weirdness, if you look at only the surface labels.
I am many- labeled.
I am a woman married to a man (watch that implied heterosexuality) for 23 years.
I am completely queer – I love all human forms, and while I lean hetero in attraction, I have had many female/female relationships. I’ve had a relationship with one person who identified as gender fluid.
I am romantically and/or sexually involved with other people than my husband. (all openly)
I am a “church lady” (I’m on the board! In my second term!)
I am a social justice activist (AK-47s and tanks and riot gear don’t ruffle my feathers after the tent city protest in Maricopa County in 2012).
I am a member of my local political affiliation’s committee, twice elected now.
I am a holistic health counselor, trained in New York at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
I am a massage therapist at a swanky spa.
and a hilarious speaker who is given to swearing like a sailor when the time is appropriate to do so!
I had weirdly colored hair back in the mid-1980’s. (I was given the nickname “Rainbow Brite”, after a popular cartoon character at the time. I was unamused.) I have funky looking teeth (genetic thing, and no, I’m not going to pay a bunch of money to have them fixed) I’m still overweight, which isn’t weird anymore, sadly. I am, and I always forget this, light brown in skin tone, so I’m constantly being told I’m whatever ethnic background people are projecting onto me. And I opted out of having children, which, as a woman, I hear, is VERY weird.
Whew.
So the most important way in which I am set aside from others is that I’m still happily married to my sweetheart of 27 years, and we have never been sexually and/or romantically exclusive. We did not set out to be sexual revolutionaries, but hey, it’s been happening since 1987, so I thought I’d write a book about the Best Practices of Sexual Non-Exclusivity*. I’ve started writing for three specific audiences: people who are already enmeshed in non-exclusivity (whether openly or not), people considering non-exclusivity, and people like my co-workers and fellow congregants, who want to know “OH MY GOD HOW THE HELL DOES *that* WORK?!?!” My friend Deena laughed when I told her what I was writing, “I can’t wait to buy your book. You lead such an interesting life!”
So I’m writing it now. This week. I’ve started. If you have topics to add/request research on, let me know. I’ll credit you if the fates (and you!) allow!
Stay weird, or stay not-so-weird, your choice!
I love you all!
MariaUnfiltered
mariaunfiltered 