My whole family, particularly me and the siblings are all pretty crazy, I mean normally you might think selling up to go traveling for an indefinite period of time is black sheep material, but my youngest Brother, Partner and their son are traveling around in a van all summer, my little sister is off to study in Finland for six months, so err, I guess my other Brother is the odd one out, as he won’t be jetting off till later next year and actually has a respectable job.

Since I do things that are not considered so sensible or in-the-box for my family. It is also agreed that my personality is a bit different from the rest of the family.

But no hard feelings, so that’s okay.

...without explanation…

ugh. I don’t have the energy to list all the reasons.

my parents always told me I was the black sheep, and the ugly duckling.

SO… yea.

damn, the more I think of it, why do I have any respect for either of them?? especially my mom. It’s been constant put downs all my life, and it’s still going. Grr.

my crazy sister… ‘nough said…

with so many of us, we’re allowed more than one black sheep.

She and I broke tradition, did what we wanted to do, moved well away (unheard of, previously), didn’t get anyone pregnant or get pregnant, avoided the streets and drugs, and neither of us have problems supporting ourselves financially and emotionally. We’re considered ODD. The rest of the family live with a kind of “hive mentality,” or group life. Enmeshed is the psychological term, I believe.

But that’s just our version!

I think I am…

I’m the ‘weird one’. Also, I and my husband are now the only people in our family without children, and we’re not really interested in the whole up-up-the-ziggurat-lickety-spit, achieving the top job and buying more Stuff kind of lifestyle, and we’re the ‘starving artists’ but anything arty we do actually rarely gets acknowledged (whereas let anyone else in the family do anything remotely creative and it’s a major event!). So, yeah, it’s me…and my husband is on his side too.

and maybe one day i’ll be glad that I was, but while i’m still living with them all it means that i’m inevitably ganged up against in arguments, and my point of veiw is looked upon as stupid rather than different. I’m also seen as the ‘rebellious’ one, but I think this is unfairly exaggurated because my sister is so damn perfect. gah.
On the upside everyone here seems to have turned this position to their advantage, so…hopefully I can too?

Not like that, though. My oldest brother got into far more trouble than I ever did.

It’s me because I’m the only person in my whole family who hasn’t succeeded. At anything. And probably won’t…. at least not to the tremendous scale that everyone else who shares my blood has.

Both of my parents by-their-bootstrapped their way from near-poverty.

My oldest brother’s IQ exceeds 200, went to war, earned two degrees, has an interesting life, good looks, friends all over the world, and an incredible job- he’s everyone’s favorite.

My next oldest brother- the middle child- distinguishes himself with limitless determination, commitment, and likability. He’s been phenomenal at everything he’s ever tried. He has the great office career, good looks, the huge house in the suburbs with a wife, two kids, the SUV and minivan, gymnastics on Tuesdays and soccer on the weekends.

Here’s me. I’ve been to school for bartending, SCUBA diving & railroad conducting, but work stocking shelves at a grocery store. My interests and sense of humor are not shared by any of my relatives, so whenever I talk about anything at all, I get their stock response: “Oh. That’s…. nice.” I possess no skills or abilities that aren’t blown away by either one of my brothers- one of whom I’m currently living with because my most recent endeavor was one, big, epic fail, leaving me broke and next to homeless.

I never look forward to reading the Christmas letter.

Not only am I the black sheep, I’m also the screw up! :)

It seems that almost all the people that answered this question say that they themselves are the black sheep… I wonder if this is because this question attacted people who wanted to vent or brag about being the different one, or if most people think or like to think they are more different or special than the rest of the bunch when they’re actually just like everyone else…

_{Before reading the answers I was going to say I was the black sheep, but because I like being the odd man out and don’t want to be like everyone else, I won’t. :-P}

No comments ;)