Our family belongs to our local Jewish Community Center.  On some days in the parking lot, you will find “Severus the Mini Cooper”. As you can imagine, this is not your every day Mini Cooper.  Whoever owns this vehicle is a Harry Potter, Slitherin fanatic. I enjoy the series, but not enough to turn my car into a virtual Harry-Potter-mobile.  Heck, I’m a minivan loving mom on the go, and I don’t even have a single “My zombie family ate your stick figure family” sticker on my car.

My husband saw this vehicle for the first time the other day, and took a picture of it. He showed it to me later on that night and was mocking the entire idea of anybody being so flamboyant with their love for a fictional universe. Now here’s where most people would agree with their spouse, to not rock the boat and end the conversation sooner than later about someone who’s made a choice that clearly, neither of us would make.

I’m sure he was surprised when instead of saying “Yeah, that car owner must be pretty crazy”, I condemned him. “Why is there anything wrong with that?”  I think it’s AWESOME that somebody is so passionate about something they love it they want to express it in creative and different ways.  I wish more people felt compelled to customize their vehicles and shout their love for whatever it is they love on the streets with every turn.

Can you imagine if everybody in this world felt so much pressure to fit in and be normal, that they never did anything different or creative? This world would be a very very boring place to live.

When I was a kid I was not like every other kid in my class. Over time, I learned to love all of the things that made me different from everybody else and to enjoy and be proud of the things that made me stand out from the crowd. By the time I got to high school, people thought I was cool. I I always said, “The only thing that makes me cool is the fact that I am unapologetically me.”

I love Star Trek, Dancing With the Stars, jigsaw and crossword puzzles. All things that might, buy any objective viewpoint, peg me as a nerd.  I even love Severus the Mini Cooper, even though he’s not mine and will never be. Severus represents the ability for anybody to reconsider how to be proud of what they love. Severus represents the freedom that makes this country great and the freedom of expression that everybody should not only have but exercise.

In this spirit, I think I’m going to search for something that will set my minivan apart from the rest.  Maybe I can find some decoration that is uniquely ME!  Until then, join me in loving Severus the Mini Cooper on Facebook.