Eccentricity

My favorite times of day are early morning and early evening.  We have Adirondack chairs that are in the shade that face our pasture during those favorite periods.  Our English Shepherd, Maggie Moo, very often joins me for a chat while I enjoy my cup of coffee.  This morning I was by the pool in my new orange, plastic chair when she joined me.  I told her that Lynne had told me the previous night that I didn't need any added evidence (wearing mismatched socks) to convince her I am eccentric.  


I will let you interpret the look Maggie Moo gave me in response to Lynne's comment.  My interpretation is disbelief that anyone could consider the distributor of her crunchy treats as eccentric.  Then she looked intently at me and asked with her eyebrows, "what does it mean to be eccentric?  Teal'c (our now deceased Great Pyrenees) buried empty plastic bottles.  Was he eccentric, dude!"  She always adds 'Dude' to emphasize a question.  She and I began to share notes on some of the eccentric people we have discussed around the pool and pasture in the early morning and evenings.  Let me share some of the people we discussed.


We lived on a cul-de-sac in Chesapeake, Virginia, from 1999-2001.  If you estimate that was my last two years in Navy, you would be correct.  The couples on each side of our rental had children.  The couple at the "end" of the cul-de-sac did not have children.  Marvin and Claudia would qualify as eccentric.  The day Marvin came over to introduce himself to our family, he was barefoot, wearing baggy shorts, and no shirt.  I think the only time he ever wore a shirt was when he dressed for church on Sunday.  On hot summer days, Claudia would sit on the couch in front of their picture window wearing no shirt or bra.  The front door would be wide open, as would be the curtains.  To add to this eccentricity, Marvin and Claudia were in the late 60's or early 70's and didn't see anything unusual about their behavior
I was an undergraduate at Auburn from 1979-1983.  I lived in Magnolia Dormitory for my first three years, and Alumni Hall my last year.   There was a guy who lived in the "Magnolia quad" who wore nothing but flowery Hawaiian shirts and camouflage pants when he wasn't in class.  This guy lived off of macaroni & cheese and Spam sandwiches for four years of college.  When we lived in Alumni Hall, he played golf with a fellow classmate in Sanford Park across from the dormitory with real golf balls.  They were even featured on the front page of The Plainsman, although they confused the name and the picture.  I'm still missing a golf ball that bounced into the grass by Baskin Robbins next to the dorm.

Ms. Barber HCJHS LIbrarian 1974

I didn't attend middle school but had the honor of attending Harris County Junior High School in Hamilton, Georgia, from 6th-8th grade. Ms. Barber and I became good . . . acquaintances during my internment at HCJHS.  She always helped me look up words in the dictionary (see Bookin' It blog).  Now she was eccentric.  I can never remember seeing her read a book or encourage us to read a book  She did Shhh! us a lot, and in general harass us when we were in the library.  When the administration refused to fix the concrete bench outside of the library, she took to lounging there and eating lunch there.  Note the boots and jumpsuit.  That outfit screams eccentricity.

Your definition and perception of words are different at different ages in your life.  When I was in 4th grade I was invited to Mike Reeves house in Waverly Hall, Georgia, for lunch.  He lived across the street my Aunt Dolly (real name Princess), we played together when we visited my aunt who lived in the old Alexander house.  My mother made Jello once in a while, but nothing prepared me for lunch at Mike's house.  His mama put shredded carrots and fruit cocktail in the Jello.   I had just learned the word eccentric that year and felt that it fully fit the bill for the Jello Mike's mom served.  I know it sounds naive, but my mother never puts shredded carrots and fruit cocktail for us.  I mentioned that to Mother. She looked at me and said, "You must be out of your ever-loving' mind!  I can put that stuff in Jello too.  They ain't special!"  We became eccentric after that and often had fruit cocktail in Jello.

Before you head for the dictionary, here is a definition for the word eccentric:  deviating from the recognized or customary character, practice, etc.; irregular; erratic; peculiar; odd.  Sonia from my days at Harris County High School fits that bill perfectly.

During my tour with Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE (VQ-1) on Agana, Guam, from 1989-1992, I met the epitome of eccentric.  His name was Lieutenant Ralph (last name withheld for his dignity).  I never flew with Ralph, but during my 'No Fly' days, we had lunch a few times.  Ralph reminded me a lot of the Barney Fife character on The Andy Griffith Show.  He was average height and weighed about 70 pounds-not exactly but let's say he was skinny.  We all stayed in the bachelor officer's quarters (BOQ) in Atsugi, Japan, when we flew missions off of Vladivostok in the Sea of Japan.  Ralph bought himself a Japanese katana on one of his days off.  Our BOQ rooms were always on the second floor and had two bedrooms, with a connected kitchen and living room.  The living room and front bedroom had big windows.  Ralph used to stand in front of the mirror wearing just his skivvies and practice his sword strokes with the curtains open.  We would walk by and say, "Hey Ralph!".  He would pause, say "Hey!" and continue with his katana exercises.  Yes, eccentric is the word.

I think eccentricity is relevant  To me, putting ketchup on your eggs is eccentric.  Think about.  Who sets these rules for "recognized or customary character, practice?"  In the famous words of John Ortberg, "Everybody is normal until you get to know them."