I was stuck in a room with my 15 year old son for 4 days. He was beyond thrilled to say the least.

CF has landed him back in hospital for a bit. Topped off nicely, was the fact he developed a cold so a Covid test was needed….Then lockdown hit so we weren’t going anywhere. Mr Lucky had me within arms reach for a longer stint than we planned.

During our iso situation, he made a comment after I hung the phone up from speaking with the ward clerk.

“You’re weird” he said.

After he got told to get stuffed, I dug a bit deeper…

“Weird how?… like scary weird or quirky weird or what?” I asked.

“Or is it just because I’m your mum and every kid thinks their parents are weird.” I added.

“Na… you ask any of my friends and they all rekon you’re a bit weird”.

This was also confirmed by my almost teen daughter when she looked at me, screwed her nose up a little and sympathetically replied to my inquisition with “well… yeah, you kinda are”.

Excellent. That’s what everyone wants to hear.

I would have happily settled for any other description than weird.

Clearly I’m not the cool mum, the laid back mum, the strict mum, the mum with the best pantry snacks mum, the handy mum, the smart mum, the chatty mum, the quiet mum, the funny mum, the friendly mum, the kind mum, the cranky mum, the “insert any other adjective you can think of” mum. Nope….I’m the WEIRD mum.

But look, if teenagers think I’m weird then I’m pretty ok with that because there’s some seriously weird shit going on in the land of the teen.

Weird is taking photos of a quarter of your head, writing “streaks” across it then sending it to all of your friends on Snapchat as a form of entertainment and connection.

Weird is not using a phone to TALK. Alexander Graham Bell would be quite miffed.

Weird is wearing socks and slides.

Weird is the ability to text at 300 wpm but the inability to get clothes INTO the laundry basket.

Weird is the resurgence of the 80’s mullet and somehow making it even uglier. Just stop it.

Weird is knowing every AFL player trade but not knowing how long to heat something up in the microwave. Like ever.

Weird is doing the SAME ANNOYING CRAP EVERY SINGLE DAY and then acting completely shocked when I lose my ever loving mind.

Weird is having a tanty after being asked to empty the dishwasher after a hard morning of sleeping until lunch time.

Weird is not being able to see something that is straight in front of your face.

Puh-lease. Spare me the lecture.

So me and my weirdness will just be over here living my best weird life being Mrs Weird of Weirdsville.

I would really love to hear what word your teens use to describe you as a mum? And if it’s “loving and kind” you can quietly go and live on Liar Island with the pizza guy.

Come at me fellow Weird mums. I can’t be living in Weirdsville alone?

Yours forever in the gloriousness of weird.

M