“My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
I wish I had seen this when I was 10. Although, the odds are that being a child I would not have “gotten it” anyway. The understanding of that kind of wisdom comes only with time and experience.
What is normal? I have absolutely no idea. I have never been normal, at least that is what some of my classmates said all through school. Actually, the word many used was weird. It was true, I was different and I knew it. I also understood why I was different even if they did not. I came from a family that was different, at least by their standards. I knew that my ‘different-ness’ was my normal. Nevertheless, the teasing was hurtful.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized what a compliment it truly was. The realization started the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. We lived in Southern California, so when I got my driver’s license I started going to the beach by myself. I loved that alone time. On the way home from the beach I’d stop in at Disneyland, get an ice cream cone, sit on a bench on Main Street, and people watch. It was wonderful. There were people from all over the world, sometimes in their colorful native dress. I so enjoyed watching that human musical parade.
Actually, the image I’d get in my mind while watching was a piece of music with everyone 
being different notes. Some were ‘sharp’ notes, a bit noticeable and discordant, and some were flat – those shy ones that let the pushy notes move to the front. Then there were the ‘Tardo’ people that meandered from attraction to attraction in what seemed like slow motion. It never failed that the Tardos would be in front of the allegros, who were always rushing here and there at full speed, desperately trying to get around them. that always made me smile as I’d imagine symbols crashing at the crescendo.
We are all a specific note, and blessedly, a unique one. The Infinite Universal pages of ‘sheet music’ need each one of us for the music to be complete. For my part in this Divine composition I must play my individual note and harmonize while staying true to myself.
I am my own note, my own special brand of normal, as are you 
“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken” – Oscar Wilde
The Soul Speaks in Images 