The Secret Life of Norman Noddy
Norman was a simple-loving kind of guy, or so he thought, and met a pretty girl while in school. Jenna and Norman came from two very different family backgrounds, but they both loved the same kind of music and movies, and more importantly, they had a similar dream for their future.
Jenna went to church, but Norman only started going when Jenna invited him. Norman began to really admire Jenna for who she was as a person, and even began to believe in this Jesus Christ she always talked about. Norman decided he wanted to be a real Christian, like Jenna, and so he got baptized one day, and thought he would never look back.
Flash forward ten years.
Norman and Jenna have been married for almost five years. Their marriage started out in solid ground, so Jenna thought, but something has happened to Norman between then and now.
They moved to Seattle, and Norman was studying to be a Psychologist, but somehow began to slowly and steadily decline in his own mind.
Jenna remembers the first day she thought something was strange about Norman. He came home from school one day, insisting that he no longer believes there is only one truth. He said, “I don’t care what the Bible says - it’s all outdated; there is such thing as having a personal truth - MY TRUTH!”
That’s just the start of when things began to decline for them. It didn’t seem like it took very long before Norman’s friends began to change entirely; he no longer cared for visiting with Christian friends, but instead would spend all his time with others who had more sophisticated views, as he would call it.
Norman began to transform himself into the image of who he wanted to be, or thought he was, and was looking a lot more like those friends of his. Jenna didn’t have a problem with Norman having friends, but she was concerned about his choice of friends and the ideologies they were feeding him.
“They’re not feeding me ideologies, Jenna.” he told her emphatically.
“Then why is it you are starting to act and think like them now that you’re around them?”
“I’ve always been this way; you just want to blame someone for things you don’t like!”
“That’s not fair, and that’s not true either. I thought we were on the same page, and now it’s like you’re a totally different person!”
“If you can’t handle that THIS is who I am, then maybe we should just end this right now.”
But Jenna was a little stubborn and insisted they talk to a marriage counselor or therapist. Of course, Norman thought he didn’t need that because he IS the psychologist in training. But he agreed to go and figured that the counselor would be on his side.
When weeks of therapy passed and things didn’t seem to change, Jenna began to wonder if their marriage could be saved after all. Her parents had been concerned about Norman’s progression down the path he was on, whatever it was, and it was evident that they weren’t happy that he was putting this strain on the marriage. Jenna just knew that something had to give.
Then, one day, Jenna’s world was rocked in ways unfathomable. She was pregnant. Surprisingly, they had actually been intimate a few times in the last 5 months, but it was in an awkward way. Now for the real surprise - how would Norman take this news?
“Norman, I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I’m pregnant; we’re going to have a baby.”
Silence. “You’re kidding,” Norman’s response was almost without any emotion. He didn’t even know how to process the words that just came out of Jenna’s mouth. Was he happy? Was he Excited? Was he on the fence about this? What, Norman Noddy?
Sigh of disbelief. “No, Norman, I’m not kidding.” She raised a hand with the pregnancy test showing positive. I mean, I guess there was that slight chance it was wrong, but really?
“Wow, I really wasn’t planning on having kids…” the words that fell from Norman’s mouth came out like heavy stones, or maybe boulders, that would crush Jenna like an avalanche.
“You’re kidding,” Jenna scoffed in disbelief.
“No, Jenna, I’m not kidding.” Norman seemed to mock Jenna’s previous statement, then he turned away from her and walked out the door, carrying what looked like a woman’s purse.
Jenna couldn’t believe what she thought she just saw. Was that a woman’s purse?
When Norman got home from school or work, Jenna was waiting in the living room, so she could get a good look at the bag that Norman had. Sure enough, upon his return, she realized that it was in fact a woman’s satchel.
“What is that?” Jenna questioned Norman.
“What is what?”
“THAT - you’re using a woman’s purse! Since when do you wear a woman’s purse?”
“Since I decided that I liked it.”
Jenna just stared at him in confusion and mental exhaustion. What has happened to the Norman she knew from school and who went to church with her for years, who married her and promised to love and cherish her all the days of their lives? Jenna was beside herself.
The decline into Norman’s persona change became more dramatic however; he began to wear women’s jewelry, and then women’s clothes, even though he knew that it not only embarrassed Jenna, but deeply hurt her.
By the end of that year, Norman finally came out and said what Jenna would never have thought she would hear in her worst nightmare.
“I’m filing for a divorce; Karen and Dylan don’t like the way we have been living stifled and persecuted by you.” the words seemed like something out of Twilight Zone to Jenna.
“What are you talking about? There’s a baby on the way and you’re going to do this now?” Jenna pleaded.
“Like I said, Grandma Karen and Dylan don’t like THIS.”
“Who is Karen and Dylan? I’ve never even heard of them.”
“Exactly - and that’s YOUR fault - because if you would have accepted me and my journey into transcendence, and supported me finding my true self, you would’ve learned that I’m not just Norman. I’m Norman, Grandma Karen, and Dylan. But you never cared about who I really am, and that’s why I’m leaving you. Be glad that I’m doing it before the baby comes; at least you won’t have to worry about me being such a bad influence on the baby!”
The words that poured out slammed Jenna like a massive wave; she was drowning in the incomprehensible. How did her husband go from where he was ten years ago to this? Was this really all her fault? What could have been done different? They should have never moved to this place - it slowly ate away at their marriage and the very being of Norman.
After the divorce, the baby, and months of just trying to get over - process - the troubling events that transpired, Jenna found some disturbing notes and a diary of sorts that belonged to Norman. The notes and journal were from the last 5 years. It was an eye-opening document of his slow decline into the persons he now believed he embodied.
There, in the hand-written notes, Jenna read things that spoke of how he felt in the different spheres and essentially shown how he made this ultimate metamorphosis:
June 23,
I’ve lately felt more inclined to bring out my inner grandma. I feel more loved and accepted by my friends at CORK than here at home; they understand me and they really like Grandma Karen.
October 12,
I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to sever ties with Jenna. It’s the only way I can keep Grandma Karen and Dylan alive. It’s the only way I can live. Without Karen and Dylan, I am not being my true self. I believe that all those years before we moved here, I was just living a lie - it was constructed by others, and it was a way for them to control me and others like me - but no more. I won’t let it happen.
March 4,
Grandma Karen has been very supportive of my decisions. I’m glad. I don’t think it would have been easy to go through this without her. And Dylan has been very pleased with the outcome too; he knows that now with Jenna out of the way (not to mention the baby), we can really live our true lives together in harmony. I don’t really know how to explain how happy it makes me. The friends at CORK also have been very supportive of what has transpired. They love me, Karen, and Dylan like family. I never had that before.
As if a window into the mind of Norman was finally opened, the gusts blew Jenna away. Did he have Schizophrenia? Or did he literally make up Karen and Dylan at some point and just say that he is three different people all at once? Now that the cat was out of the bag, Jenna was truly relieved that her baby would not be growing up around this delusion. How could she ever explain to her child that daddy is a grandma AND two other men? How could she explain any of this? She couldn’t. It was like a really bad movie gone wrong.