To think the hilarity just wasn’t necessary?

You have got to be kidding me. You think it's abnormal for a grown adult to want to reflect on the subject of a conversation?
This is not weird. This is what intelligent people do.

They absolutely were laughing at her, at the very least once it was clear she didn’t find it funny then the adult thing to do is stop laughing, apologise and move on. Making something a family joke when the butt of the joke isn’t amused is not a family joke, it’s family bullying and it’s deeply unpleasant.

But why should she? Is she hurting anyone by what she did? No. It’s really mean to laugh at someone when they’re obviously not amused.

Totally agree. Laughing at somebody for thinking? Who does that? That's oddly immature behavior for any adult. Being thoughtful, otoh, is not odd.

No wonder we have such a problem with bullying in schools if this how grown adults are to someone who’s doing NOTHING wrong, just a bit different to what the would do.
the comments on this post and the experience of people laughing at you when you’re clearly not in on the joke is just deeply unpleasant and unnecessary.
you can think ‘oh that’s a bit odd’ without laughing and acting like twat. It’s more odd to be so cruel about someone imo.

this post is grim. I’m sorry @AllProperTeaIsTheft try not to be too upset by these awful people. ❤️

This reminds me about the lady in the Sistine Chapel, and if my sister did the same as you, I'd laugh too as it sounds like such an odd thing to do that it would be funny (sorry OP).

Because why should she not share it? What if dd also has thoughts and wants moments like this? Op is normalising it. Totally fine. There was no judgement attached to the comment from op or her dd.

You weren't at a museum though you were just having a conversation. I would expect this from Frasier Crane

It’s a bit “Wouldn’t you just die without Mahler”? But if you want to ponder the Middle Ages I say gfi.

I get that, @Wheresthebeach - but I’m not sure she needed to tell her dd that she was thinking and reflecting. It just seems a bit performative.

I suspect OP didn’t expect her DD to repeat it. Just a quick, honest answer that didn’t take the possibility of other peoples unkind reaction into consideration.

I love clouds. I’ve been known to ask my stepdad to stop the car so I can take a picture if there is an amazing cloud formation 😂 I admit it is really weird and don’t get offended when they take the piss.

This is very similar to your situation. I wouldn’t get offended - you are the one doing something out of the ordinary. Not that it’s wrong, just that people don’t always understand ‘different’.

Nothing wrong with thinking and reflecting, no, @Wheresthebeach - but did the OP need to tell anyone?

When her dd asked her what she was doing, why not just say she was out for a bit of fresh air or a few minutes quiet?

Crikey, have you been on a Counselling course OP?

Yes I think it was unkind of them. Nothing wrong with a bit of thinking and reflecting. Not sure why it’s hilarious.

There's a strong vein of anti-intellectualism in this country. People would rather watch football and be cattle for clever people to make money off. Hence laughing at people who take any study seriously and think about it. Hence laughing at kids in school who actually want to learn something. I'd just pity your family and smile sweetly. Or discuss what the latest football/instagram/Coronation St idol is telling them to think. And get on with worthwhile study while they're not there.

donnysue yes!absolutely fascinating.DS 16 would have been breeding and killing rabbits not that long ago. And yes, being trained to chuck axes a long time ago. I, and my mum would be dead from childbirth, that’s if we’d survived chicken pox etc.
live heard people say Stonehenge isn’t that great. Err what?!
I think it’s great that you take time to reflect. Yes, the dungeons are fun, but if you stop to think, this stuff was actually done to actual people. What kind of mentality lived then?
Would love to be able to travel in time.

I don’t think you’re weird at all and I think your family were downright bloody rude. And they will have made dd feel awful, too. I think you did absolutely the right thing and I often think about stuff like this, too. When I walk along a path we think has been in existence since Stone Age, I always think about those people and what their thoughts were. Actually I think people who don’t think like us are the weird ones. How can you not think about this stuff?!?

Yes, but I don't find I need special time to reflect on it. I also don't forget about it. My thoughts just drift in and out of my head while I'm doing other things.

If I'd not wanted to join in talking about Trump (understandable) I'd just have zoned out a bit where I was and no doubt, without any positive action, my brain would simply bring up snippets of the previous conversation for me to mull over. Noone would know I was doing it. If they asked why I wasn't involved in the new topic I'd just say"sorry, drifted off a bit there".

Ended rather abruptly as my phone was about to conk out! OP, you don’t have to do a university degree. There are lots of adult education courses and interest groups where you’d be learning and mixing with people who share your interests. Ot’s so much more fun when you’ve got people to share your interest with.

But it also sounds as if your family are quite interested, as they were discussing history with you. Their laughter hurt your feelings, and reminds me of feeling like a boring little swot among the cool kidd st school. But they probably didn’t mean to offend you. Try to just laugh it off, and see if you can keep the conversation going.

Best of luck, OP. Never let anyone squash your enthusiasm!

OP, only shallow people would think there's something strange or funny about you being thoughtful. You're smarter and a better person than they are, clearly.
The only other reason I can think of is that they'd had too much to drink.

@CelesteCunningham thanks. I got the reference to the Sistine Chapel thread and I remember it. Obviously I don’t know if this OP is the same one who started the Sistine Chapel thread, but her posting style seems quite different and, in this thread, she’s making herself vulnerable by being so open about things that she feels embarrassed by, so I don’t really understand how comparing herself to the Sistine Chapel OP is going to help. All it will achieve is make her feel invalidated.

Thank you for replying.

Yep, that's what I wondered too. The hobby, the 'reflection', the difficulty understanding the weirdness of the behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I'm from an ND family so wouldn't have thought much about a situation like this but undiagnosed ASD is certainly coming to mind here.

@Chocolatefrogs OP's posts remind many of us of a notorious troll. That's the reference to wailing.