Normal

Not until recently did I realize:
I have never wanted to be normal.
Perhaps this isn't an uncommon thought, especially for people in my age vicinity. But growing up, I was always trying to find ways to be different from other people. I got excited when I heard people call me "weird", because I considered it to be a good thing (and I still do!). I would inwardly remark on things that make me different from others (mannerisms, hobbies, etc.) - or so I thought.
In the last few weeks, several things that I thought made me unique (for instance, I didn't know that riding bikes causes lots of people's hands to go numb; I always just thought I had weird nerve endings) have been exposed to not be as such.
(Well, that was a convoluted sentence!)
I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed when I'm proved to be like everyone else- everyone wants to be different. But I think that, though most people are "normal", what make them "strange" and interesting are the subtle differences from one person to another that you usually don't encounter until you get to know a person. For instance, my syntax and conversational manner is completely different from anyone I've met. Sometimes I forget about it because everyone I know is used to me switching topic abruptly and being super animated, for example. But when I'm talking to someone new, they can't follow what I'm saying because of the different accents, voices, topics, and tactics I throw at them.
And I'm not making that up just to seem different. That is, in fact, something I wouldn't have realized if someone hadn't pointed it out to me.
Sure, it's easy to think everyone is normal, but the funny part is that no one is normal. "Normal" is just an ideal- an overly perfect mean, right smack dab in the middle of humankind. Some people strive for it, some rebel. No matter what, though, no one resides in that category. That's what I mean: it's easy to label someone as "normal" and just get it over with so you don't have to keep trying to figure them out and smack a sign on their head, but if you keep talking to John Doe, you'll probably find that he secretly subscribes to Seventeen Magazine, or that Tina Typical absolutely cannot wear the color red.
And then there's also the topic of "who says what normal is?" Maybe you are John Doe, and you really do subscribe to Seventeen and think that men who don't are abnormal. Normality is established by whom and what you surround yourself with. I'm sure that many Nerdfighters felt abnormal until we all congregated and became normal once in the presence of others who are abnormal in the same ways we are.
In the end, I'm not disappointed to feel like everyone else. The subtleties of life are what make it interesting.