Friday, March 4, 2011

Oh Yeah!....I've Got 'Nutty' Folks in My Family!!

     Okay....I've been wanting to do this post for a long time. Not for any particular reason, except to say it out loud!...I haven't done it before because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Especially not anyone who might recognize that I was, in fact, hurting their feelings! But now I'm convinced....they'll never know the difference! ^_^
     Some will never know the difference because they are no longer with us. Others are 'no longer with us'....in other ways!! *wink! wink!*
     What am I talking about?!....'Nutty' folks! LOL...'Nutty' folks in my family...And before you think I'm being cruel, I'm not talking about folks with uncontrollable mental illness. I know what a struggle it is to not have your mind work 'with' you! I would never down-grade anyone battling with mental illness.
    What I mean when I say 'Nutty' folks is folks who seem to walk around in the world, totally confident, but to the beat of their own drum...I've got a lot of those in my family! In fact, I may be considered one of them!! ^_^ But lately it seems that I'm noticing how many of us there are....wrapped around our family tree like a strangling vine!! LOL
       I told you, a while back, about my Uncle who never threw anything away. By the time he passed away his house...his 3 bedroom house...had become a tunnel, basically! When you went into his house there was only one direction you could walk...the tunnel...because he had things piled up on top of things, (I'm talking T.V.s and tables, people!) and he collected newspapers and piled them up everywhere too.
     The 'Nutty' part was that he was a brick mason by trade and could have built himself a larger space if he wanted to!...*shaking my head*...My husband loved him, because he used to tell the biggest 'tales' you ever heard! And he could tell them in such a way that, if you didn't know him, you couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or not!
     One time he told my husband that he was walking out in the woods and he heard this repeated cracking sound, like a man with a whip cracking it in the air. He said it sounded like a "CRACK!" and then an echo. He said he tried to ignore it because he was all alone and he didn't want to get into any 'situation' out this deep in the woods all alone! {He was a black man, and this was in the South,...Georgia,...back when racial issues were a "REAL" issue!} 
      Anyway....he decided to do a little bit of sneaky investigating, moving slowly, peeping around trees. And lo and behold, what do you think he saw?!....A 'Whipper snake' jumping up and down next to a big tree, whipping himself up against it over and over, with bark flying everywhere!!! LOL
     He says he ran for his life once the snake caught a glimpse of him, because he didn't want to end up having to 'play dead' and have this whipper snake stick his tail up his nose to see if he was breathing!!!......He was just plain 'NUTTY'!! LOL But my husband believed every word, not really knowing my Uncle that well, and not having lived in the South. It took me years to convince him that my Uncle was 'pulling his leg' (joking with him).
     That's only ONE 'Nutty' person in my family though! I could tell you story after story about them: My spinster-type Aunt who, every year for Christmas (we celebrated it when I was a kid) would give my father a new white Bible, and my sisters and I would get a pair of underwear with a rubber band across the crotch part! (Sorry. I know...too much information. LOL) Why she did this, we will never know... 'Nutty'! ^_^
     Or my Cousin, the funeral director, who refused to go in anyone's front door! In one of the houses we lived in, when I was young, we had spiral stairs that led up to the kitchen from the back door. No one ever came to visit us from the back door because they knew we had a dog...a German Shepard mix...that we kept in the back stairway at night to dissuade thieves from breaking in. He was the only one that ALWAYS came into the house that way...at night! The dog, who barked ridiculously even if a car drove by on the street, NEVER barked when he came to the house. We'd be sitting there eating dinner or something and all of a sudden there'd be this LOUD "Knock! Knock!"...It scared us EVERY time! But we always knew who it was!...Mr. 'Nutty McNutty'!! LOL
     He was also known to take his dates to the funeral home and eat take-out meals on the embalming table!!...No! I'm not making this up!! LOL...Maybe this explains why I so feverishly seek calm in my life, and need so many naps!!! ^_^
     Trust me when I tell you that I could go on here for days!!! But I won't!...^_^ Do you have 'Nutty' folks in your family too?! I think I've got new ones coming out of the woodwork lately.....and I'm slowly becoming one of them!! HELP ME!! LOL


Nutty Folks in Your Family

Are there 'Nutty' folks in your family?
(not that there's anything wrong with that!)
Folks with a lean toward the peculiar,
that some would call 'crazy as a bat'?!

Do you find you make excuses
for the behavior you often see?
While you're secretly glad that you
MARRIED into this family!

Are conversations all one-sided,
with your head always cocked sideways;
but you remember when they were sane,
that is, back in the 'good ole days'?!

Are the 'Nutty' folks in your family...
(not that there's anything wrong with that!)
collectors, hoarders, oddball misfits,
and the best friend to every cat?!

When seasons come around,
do you get gifts you can't explain?
Does their hearing seem affected
when their focus starts to wain?

Do they twist your words (like "Hi!")
and think you're putting out the welcome mat?
Look out! Now 'Nutty' is coming for dinner!
(not that there's anything wrong with that!)  

16 comments:

  1. I'm starting to think that everyone is a nut! Aside from people on TV (and I mean when they are acting - not their real lives) who is normal?

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  2. ;-))) I loved this post, i love the way you write with such gentleness, humour and warmth you sound like you have some amazing interesting Nuts in your family i could have listened to your tales of them for hours. I don't have any real interesting members of my family to talk about although i was the only family member to move away from the village and local towns where we lived. So im not really close to aunts and uncles or even cousins. I expect if they saw my retro home and the things i make etc they may call me a Nut ;-) Have a great weekend, dee x

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  3. You DO have some nuts in your family, don't you!! I do too! I'm probably one of them, depending on who you talk to! LOL I enjoyed your poem. Hit the nail on the head as they say! Your uncle sounded like he was fun to talk to. What a riot!

    By the way....any news about your Dad?

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  4. Lisa, Ha! Ha! Ha! You may be right!!..."I just play one on T.V." Isn't that way they say?! LOL

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  5. delia, Ha! Ha! Don't encourage me!! ^_^...But how nice of you to say that about my writing! Truth is, I have to slow my brain down to write it. I type much slower than I think. But whatever I'm thinking COMES OUT!! ^_^...And trust me, I know a 'Nut' when I see one...You're not a 'Nut'!! LOL

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  6. CinLynn, I sure do!!! You don't know the half of it sister!!! LOL...Thanks, about the poem...And about my Uncle, Jeff would sit and giggle for hours talking to him! He passed away now and Jeff occasionally talks about how he misses him...Looks forward to doing so again in the future. :-]...My dad?! I'll talk about it tomorrow.

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  7. Who is normal, right? Great post.

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  8. Deb, I think that everyone in my family thinks I'm the nut, but I know that they are the nuts. I could also tell you some real crazy stories that would have you rolling on the floor with laughter. Maybe some day I will. I always love reading your blog. It always makes my day. Love your poem.

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  9. Priscila, Ha! Ha! Right!...Thank you.

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  10. SnowflakeDreams1, Ha! Ha! I guess 'Nutty' is all about your perspective in your family then, huh?! ^_^ Actually, that's probably true in all of our families!! I'd love to hear your stories too!...I know I'm 'Nutty'! Does it make a difference if you know it?! LOL ... Hmmmm.... ^_^

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  11. I had an Aunt...my Godmother..that I loved dearly and she became "nuttier" after my Uncle passed away. She hoarded things too, and gave the weirdest Christmas presents to my boys when they were little..like pink gloves...or men's underwear that was a size 48 waist and other things so bizarre that every Christmas we saved her gifts to open last because we laughed so hard..but we loved her and her thoughtfulness at even sending anything to us. It's really strange when you discover someone you thought for sure was normal and then they go and do something really weird and you just have to stare at them forever and try and figure out when they actually fell off the deep end, or if they always were nutty and you just discovered it. I have a great story about that, but this comment is really toooo long already! Does that make me nutty? Loved the post!

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  12. I love your stories about nutty relatives! Yes, I'm sure we all have them, or a friend or neighbour!
    I was going to give you the awesome blog award, but I see you already have it and I dont want to burden you! But I think your blog is awesome anyway!

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  13. I think everyone has a 'nutty' family member somewhere! My Mum's brother, Uncle Johnny, was a bit nutty (and a tad on the rude side) but that was what made him fun.]
    And there's no such thing as normal, that is only a cycle on a washing machine ;)

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  14. yaya, Ha! Ha! It looks like you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about...with your aunt!! It's almost the same story, but the details are a little different!...This comment:

    "...It's really strange when you discover someone you thought for sure was normal and then they go and do something really weird and you just have to stare at them forever and try and figure out when they actually fell off the deep end, or if they always were nutty and you just discovered it..."

    ...had me cracking up!!! ^_^ It's so true!!! And I want to hear your story on it too...long comment or not!...Thank you for sharing that with me. I don't feel so alone now! LOL

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  15. planettreasures, *Teehee*...Thanks for reminding me that 'Nuttiness' can also spread to friends and neighbors!! I didn't want to bring them into this, but.....you're right!! ^_^ ... And thank you for the nice words about my blog!!! :-)

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  16. Jo-anne, Ha! Ha! The comment about the washing machine was too funny! The first thing I thought was maybe that's why they call the tub thing an "agitator"! ^_^ And you reminded me about something else too. The fact that their 'nuttiness' has brought a lot of smiles over the years! Especially with my relatives who, I'm sure, knew they were 'Nutty' and were alright with it!! :-)

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