The habits of the twisted and strange...

I think to some extent we are all creatures of habit. Just ask 9 out of 10 girls, and they will recite their morning ritual to you. It's performed the same way every day because if it wasn't, well, something just wouldn't FEEL right.

At my sister's house, I picked up on a few of her habits, which she passed on to her son. As soon as their feet hit the floor of their home, they are off to their rooms to change into "home clothes." These are clothes only worn in the home. It's almost as if clothes worn "out" must be contaminated and removed. Clothes worn in can never cross the line of the front door or else they be removed from the premises permanently.

CCL has a weird habit too...she has a "clean" brush and a "dirty brush." The dirty brush is used for brushing her hair before she washes it and the clean brush is after the wash. One time cousin Mikey made the grave mistake of using CCL's clean brush before he had washed his hair. His punishment? He was beaten with the clean brush until she knocked some sense into him never to use the clean brush on dirty hair. She then had to remove the contaminated brush from the premises and replace it with a new brush. Mikey...ever the quick learner...next used her clean brush on his CLEAN hair after bathing one day. He smiled like a good little boy who had learned a valuable lesson as he looked into the mirror and brushed his clean hair. CCL found him in her bathroom once again and beat the tar out of him with the contaminated brush. "Why?" he cried. "My hair is clean!" Her answer is one that we should all have known. None of us...even with clean hair...could measure up to the clean of her hair...therefore her clean brush would be off limits to all of us. We all learned through his misfortune.

Yesterday, I went over to see my kid cousins and noticed that Ashley has a habit similar to that of my sister's. She too changes as soon as she gets home. However, she changes into her pajamas. Not just any pajama...but flannel pajamas...even in the dog days of summer. However, I must say that her weird habit has improved just a bit. She used to wear the flannel shirt of the pajama set over a t-shirt...like some sort of fashion statement or security jacket (opposed to a security blanket). The girl is constantly in pajamas regardless of the time of day. And it's not like she has a lot of sets. She wears the same set until her mom gets tired of seeing her wearing the same thing every day and yells at her or threatens to burn it. And believe you me...she is true to her threats...she's done it before. Currently it's a pair of pajama pants that I let her borrow along with my NYC t-shirt. This is what I saw her wear y'day...and what I saw her wear last week...oh, and the week before.

Les is no different...she's just as weird. Her habit is to saveeeee everything. When I say everything...I mean everything...a gum wrapper, a stub of a movie ticket, a random pin she finds on the street, etc. She even has the plastic flower arrangement that my mom gave her mom on the day she was born. The thing is 16 years old...not to mention plastic and ugly...but the girl still keeps it as a cherished heirloom.

Now, I have habits too...but none out of the ordinary. I bite my nails, pop my knuckles, crack my neck...but nothing WEIRD like these people. I guess they're just habitual weirdos.