Just got in last night from a long weekend with my youngest daughter. Years ago, realizing I had three children, very little money, and big dreams, I decided to consolidate what resources I had. I told the kids that most birthdays would be small - a video game or a couple books, maybe a jacket, a birthday dinner, cake, nothing crazy, but when they turned 12 Id take them on a surprise birthday trip theyd never forget. Turns out that might be the best decision Ive ever made. My oldest went to New York and to the ballet, Wicked, the Empire State, the Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, Dylans Candy Bar, etc; my son and I went to Hawaii and spent all our time boogie boarding, snorkeling, swimming, fishing, or eating fish, and my youngest, well, hers was simple: find a place to visit an elephant sanctuary, a small cheese farm, and hike a mountain in early winter -- California dreaming became reality. I know not all LGBT people will have the chance to have children in the way I had them -- three children all born with birth control in a three and a half year very-hard-to-remember period and an eventual divorce -- Id honestly recommend a little more creativity. There are SO many kids out there who need love whether its Big Brothers and Big Sisters or fostering children or reading to them at the library - sometimes I think we fulfill a need our society has in claiming all the many unwanted children. My friends Jay and Bryan Leffew are models of that kind of love with several of their own foster children - theyve taken foster children into their home and are raising them as their own and love them every bit as much as I love my biological children. As if biology makes family - we queer folk figured out a long time ago that biology and family arent one and the same. You all have a good night. Its 9:38 here in Dallas and I am ready to turn in and see what tomorrow brings.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 03:40:07 +0000