The Meaning of the Word Freak

When you have friends with whom you can talk about anything, some weird stuff can come up.

When visiting my friends Mike and Kelsae yesterday, I also had the pleasure of schmoozing with Roslyn and Mckenna, Kelsae's mom and little sister. I have gotten to know both of them well since Mike's stroke in November; they are my idols because of the way they have been taking care of Mike, Kelsae, and baby Toby Beans. And I know idolatry is against my religion, but I can't help it—they are cool.

Roslyn mentioned that she is a health freak because Diabetes runs rampant in her family. She also said that her children have called her a freak on several occasions, due to her devotion to healthy eating and exercise.

That started her on a mini-rant about how the word "freak" carries a negative connotation, but often it is admired when called by a different name. Her example was the term "control freak": she said that when someone says, "I've got everything under control," people are usually comforted, but once the term "control freak" is thrown around, control is seen as a detriment.

And then Roslyn said, "There, you have an idea for your next blog post."

Sold.

Here, in this previously unseen photo of Lucy in the delivery room right after the doctors cleaned her off, Lucy shows off that she is a tongue freak.

Lucy currently has a penchant for flapping around her tongue at all times. There is never an inappropriate time for a "la la la" or a lick to the face, in her eyes. Apparently Lucy has been a tongue freak ever since she arrived on the planet, but only now am I realizing that fact. Before, I thought it was a cute affectation.

Now she's just a freak.

Caleb's family are devotees to stuffed animals—he was raised with an affinity for large numbers of "friends" of every kind. He is a "friend" freak.

When Caleb and I were dating, he mentioned that each child in his family was assigned an animal and were showered with snuggly plush pals. I did not realize the extremity of the situation until Caleb and I had our own kids. They also were assigned animals (hippos for Jacko and alligators/crocodiles for Lu), because I am too ambivalent about the entire situation to stop it. Their stuffed animal collection is embarrassingly massive. And it's all Caleb's fault.

What a freak.

Jacko has delved feet first into the realm of dressing up. He is a costume freak.

Mixing and matching the costumes he received for his birthday last December, Jack enjoys pulling out his dress-up suitcases and going to town. In the photo above, you'll see that the Elmo body is stylishly paired with a foam dinosaur hat. Even though we have an Elmo hat, Jacko feels that sometimes you have to change it up a little. I don't know if Lucy will follow in his footsteps, but I hope she doesn't.

He's a freak.

And I am the freakiest one of all.

I wish I could pinpoint what kind of a freak I am. Then I could alter my behavior or at least hide my freak flag a little. But, no—I am destined to be a capital-f Freak forever. Freaky freaky freak.

But I really like myself, for the most part.

So, I guess I like freaks.