I've always been a black sheep too. My family had very high standards and a set way of doing things which they did not expect anybody to challenge. My younger sister never challenged anything, but I did. (I'm the oldest of 6). I ran away to college (going away to college didn't match with their plans) at 19 and hardly ever heard from my family at all for about 10 years. Gradually we've been reopening communication and it turns out that they thought I was mad at them all that time and I thought they didn't want me / had forgotten about me. They are a lot more accepting of me and what I do now than I ever expected they would be.

There's nothing wrong with black sheep. I have about 20 sheep, and only two of them are white (and those have colored markings). I like diversity, and prefer people (or sheep or whatever) that stand out. We're probably pretty much all black sheep here. Isn't it great! And I love the white sheep too - guess why - because they stand out!

<font color=purple>"The real problem of mental life is not why some people become insane, but rather why most avoid insanity." -Erich Fromm</font color=purple>