When I was little, I was so embarassed

of the following:

1. Being Greek, because I thought Greeks were weird and unattractive
2. Wearing thrift shop clothes
3. Not going to Catholic School after school (CCD)
4. Not being allowed to go trick-or-treating or sing the Halloween songs at school
5. Not having a TV
6. That my parents listened to classical music
7. That we lived in a weird house on a hill
8. That we were not allowed to play with certain kids on our street
9. That my dad would get so angry at my friends
10. That we weren't allowed to listen to non Christian music

Now that I'm older, I'm so not embarrassed of some of these things. In fact, I'm proud to have been raised in an environment that was so focused on protecting us from our horrific environment. So this post is to say Thank You Mom and Dad for marrying Greek, because I love my heritage and I think any pure mix is more beautiful. Thank you for being cool and dressing us in thrift shop clothes long before it was in style. Thank you for not being Catholic, because I would not be religious if we were. Thank you for being so involved in our upbringing, that you took the safe road with Halloween and tried so hard to make it just as fun for us with going to the shore and hiding candy all around Uncle Nick's house. Thank you for loving classical music, and blasting it in the car because, even though I didn't think it was cool at the time, I know it added to my own sense of culture.

Thank you for not having a TV because you were ahead of your time and all of our creativity was developed very young to counterbalance this. And one more note on that -- thank you especially mom for not having a TV because you were the one that had to deal with two little girls full time, and I know that I use the TV as a distraction when I really need one. Thank you for picking the weirdest house in Upper Darby. It had space and you made it like a museum with sculptures and plants -- even though it was haunted, that was my favorite house and I miss it. And even though it was hard for you guys, thank you for not letting us play with Bobby and Denise. Bobby molested the boy next door and went to jail, and Denise got pregnant in 9th grade. Both of them ended up being into drugs. I don't know how you could see they were both so bad, but you were right. Thank you for doing that. How hard it must have been to deal with two, crying, demanding little girls that didn't understand. Dad...I am not happy that you used to get mad at my friends, but I understand it now. I get that you were not a kid person. I get that we were irritating. I know that our lives were hard then...so thank you for keeping that from us. We didn't know we were poor. We didn't know there were problems. If you got angry at us sometimes, I forgive you, because it was a lesser show of reality. And about the non-Christian music. Well, thank you for letting me listen to Amy Grant. And the truth is, when it was time and I just turned on 98 WCAUFM that morning when I was 13 years old and just listened to it all day, thank you for letting me do it and not making me shut it off. It was time for me to move into that world and you allowed it.

In the end, I'm still off, but that has a great deal to do with the natural way that our family is and its something I've learned to embrace. You never taught us that being "the same" was right. You always made it cool that we were weird. You promoted us as "The Munsters" and made it seem like a cool thing. You told us we were artists. You told us we were creative. You encouraged us to dye our hair. You encouraged us to get into offbeat things. How lucky I am. How proud I am. I'm an oddball that came from a family that loved it. I grew up in a family that encouraged out of the box thinking and strange ways of looking at life. I grew up with a dad that did artistic things at the JC Penny portrait studio...and with a Mom that drew me when I was 6 years old.

For all the times I yelled about everything, I'm sorry. All of my creative confidence...everything I am is a result of the support, love and encouragement of my parents.

Thank You.