Normal-ish: A Memoir

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Most kids want to fit in. To be normal. But Alan Simmons never quite made it to normal. His Southern Baptist family worked for and lived next to the Monastery of St. Clare, a Catholic convent that housed 28 secluded nuns. Normal kids played sports. Alan helped his father bury deceased nuns and seal their graves in a crypt underneath the monastery. Normal kids brought toys or pet hamsters to Show and Tell. Alan brought rosary beads. Growing up straddling 2 cultures eventually gets to a kid. Especially a fat kid whose chances of fitting in are slim to begin with. But there's never a dull moment. The priest next door thinks he's a Jack London character. Sister Joan's cousin is from another planet. And Sister Angela's great-nephew is an 80s rock icon. Despite his comical surroundings, though, Alan fights a daily battle with self-hatred, and he's at the end of his rope. He's desperate to feel loved, to feel normal. But he's starting to think he might just have to settle for normal-ish.