It is true.  I possess a rare gene.  One that others may have but I have cornered the majority of it and possess powers unknown to others.  It makes me laugh sometimes but many times it makes me take pause and consider my “gift”.  My gift is a curse at times also.  I have learned to embrace it (there it is—one of my words that I am focusing on this year!  I am using it!  ) .  You see it is simple—I attract dysfunctional people.   It does not matter if I know them or not—-they flock to me.   My husband laughs at it.  He calls them “my people”.   Along with this I am able to have people tell me just about anything.  I don’t know how I do it—they just open up to me.  Things that they haven’t told anyone else .  It just comes gushing out to me.  And I can’t share those things usually because they are so private!  I don’t intend to insult anyone here—-dysfunctionality  is everywhere.  In varying degrees.  And as I said before–I embrace it.  It is what makes this world that we live in so varied and interesting.  If we were all clones of one another how boring would that be?  Very!  So when I come across someone who is maybe a little bit different than me I take it all in.  It fills me up with interesting stories of encounters and incidents and allows me the chance to expand my view of things.

Of course there are extremes—the folks that are dangerously dysfunctional who really need some professional help.   There are definitely a lot of those out there in our world and hopefully if they can figure out how to access the help that they need (and that is sometimes the trick) they learn to function well in our complicated world. The ones that I usually attract are the folks who just are a little “off”.

The hub and I were walking on the beach earlier in the week.  It was windy and a little chilly.  As we walked by an older couple (and let me tell you–that is all that seemed to be on South Padre Island this week—-we felt very young!) the woman of the couple was putting on a pair of knit gloves.  As she walked by us she yelled “I am a coyote!”.   Chris and I looked at one another and continued walking.  Not quite sure what that meant.  We are very close to Mexico…but once again it was an example of the fun life that I lead where folks just kind of find me.

I have learned that my life is very simple.  Very uncomplicated.  Very serene right now.  I am loving it.  Used to have a pretty chaotic stressful life but I have traded that in the past couple of years and I must admit that I like the new life a lot.   An occasional encounter with a stranger who may be slightly different than me kind of makes me happy.  It broadens my sometimes small world a bit.  It usually opens my heart up a bit.  It reminds me that we are all God’s children.  And who is to say that they don’t look at me and think “Now there is a really dysfunctional person!”.  I guess it is all in how you look at it!

So today embrace dysfunctionality and love it for what it can bring you.  Maybe a story to tell and a smile on your face.  I look forward to my next encounter!