In the summer of 1993 I stood in the middle of my Mother’s hotel room. Six months earlier I had come out to her over the phone, and this was our first face-to-face meeting. Purchasing a couple of books, I had hoped to give them to her on her visit. This was my attempt in some way to help her deal with the fall out of her nice Mormon son “turning” gay. She spoke of damnation and conversion therapy. I handed her Don Clarks’s book, Loving Someone Gay as a starting point to bridge a gap in communication and understanding. She picked up the hotel wastepaper basket and tossed the books inside.
I closed the door to her room slowly; as I did I realized I was closing another door. As I walked down the badly decorated hallway to the elevator and out the castle themed hotel, one thought came to mind:
Those are the relationships that make up the family you choose.
I closed the door to her room slowly; as I did I realized I was closing another door. As I walked down the badly decorated hallway to the elevator and out the castle themed hotel, one thought came to mind:
“My Mother is a raging A## hole.”
Out of the blue today, Dalton the BFF, sent me a text from his office in mid-town Manhattan. He needed a hug while working on a stressful proposal to revamp the image of a mens clothing line. It got me thinking; true family isn’t in titles, it’s in actions. True family isn’t how often you see each other in the bar, or link to each other on Facebook; it truly is in walking the walk. The idea that when something goes wrong, like your car breaking down, family will stand next to you and give you unsolicited support. The concept that you will get unconditional and never-ending ending support when you need it, or even when you don’t want it.
Awesome post, Stevie. This strikes a chord with me.
ReplyDeletevery nice, Stevie
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
ReplyDeleteCan I be a distant cousin?
Yup. I've always maintained that just because you share DNA with someone doesn't mean you have to love them. Or even like them.
ReplyDeleteThere are more important things than a genetic code.
If home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in, then family are the people that live in that place--whether or not there is any genetic relationship between you and them.
ReplyDelete