Yeah, we’ve got that.
What, you ask?
Pretty much all the diversity you could ask for.
I love when I tell people about my alternative family. It usually starts with something about how my mom and her wife live in Florida and so do both my sisters. Then, I talk about my brother and sister-in-law that live in Texas and a nephew that’s up here in Cincinnati. Oh, and I have a brother that lives with his fiancé in Indy.
“How’d you end up in Cincy?”
Well, my dad moved here a couple years before I did, and I met my other half through him. Hubby was born and raised here, and we wanted to raise our daughter here. Then, my stepmom just moved up from Nashville.
“How long have your dad and stepmom been together? It must have been hard with her living in another state.”
Actually, my dad’s gay, too.
“WHAT?! Both your parents are gay! How did that work?!”
I explain how my parents were each other’s best friend and had a wonderful marriage, four of us kids, and adopted my oldest brother during their almost 20 years together. No, they didn’t turn each other gay or any of that nonsense. They always had those tendencies but had fallen in love with each other. When that fell apart in my early teen years, they found counterparts that made them happy in their new stage of life. My dad married a childhood sweetheart in between on his journey, though. I’m just grateful their relationship did work while it did – otherwise I wouldn’t be here! 😊 And, I got two of the most amazing moms out of it all!
I’ve got a sister who is bisexual. I’ve got a biracial child. I’ve got an African-American husband. I’ve got a lesbian mom. I’ve got a gay father. I’ve got a best friend who is my daughter’s god mom that was once married to a woman and is now happily about to have her first child with a man. We’ve got Republicans (not many) and Democrats in the family. We’ve got churchgoers and those that don’t believe in organized religion. We’ve got business owners and artists and SAHMs and those with disabilities and those with autism – oh, I forgot to mention that both my moms (the one who gave birth to me and the one that came into my life later on) are amputees. They each are missing a leg that is opposite from the other.
We’re one big, happy, semi-dysfunctional, extended, alternative family, and I love every bit of it.
I wouldn’t change any of us or any of it for the world. Plus, I constantly have the chance to share different perspectives, world views, and lifestyle choices with my young daughter. She gets to ask all the questions in a safe environment, and it forces me to widen her view of acceptance when it comes to what she will experience in the real world.
What diversity do you have in your family, and what is your favorite part about it? If your family is not that diverse, what do you do for your children to educate them on those that are not exactly like your family?
