#excuse this random ass stream of consciousness. i'm hoping if I type it out I'll stop thinking about it

[greenbergsays]

So, I saw @kedreeva last week when she was on vacation and we had lunch together (yay us, I always love hanging out with the wife)

But when we parted ways, I called my dad and was talking to him about it and he asked, "So, this friend of yours. Is this person on your list?"

"What list?"

"The list of people you'll hug."

I don't know why, but I cannot stop thinking about that conversation. It's popped into my head at least once a day since it happened.

I guess sometimes I'm just hit with the realization that I'm very lucky that my family understands and accepts my idiosyncrasies. They always have.

For most of my life, my mother had a disclaimer when we met new people.

"This is [Des]," she'd say. "Don't be offended when she doesn't talk to you."

She said that all the way until I was well into my twenties.

I was never made to talk if I didn't want to--which is a good thing, honestly, because when I was younger I had so much anxiety that I couldn't talk sometimes--and I was never made to touch people. Nobody ever told me that I was too old to be so reticent or that I needed to "grow up."

I never had to make myself palatable for other people. My family just made sure everyone know this is the way I was and that wasn't gonna change. That might not sound like much, but considering the fact that I was born in 1990, it feels like a pretty progressive way to grow up for that time period.

idk man. I complain a lot about my family sometimes, and they deserve at least half of it, but then I remember stuff like this and I'm glad I got stuck with these people.