One boy, one girl

This is a previous post from my other blog. I apologize to those of you who have already read it. I feel that it fits better with this blog. Enjoy...

I was asked yesterday in a job interview what my greatest accomplishment was. My answer was a little cheesy and I only half-heartedly believed it.

Until yesterday afternoon.

My answer was, "My kid. And watching her learn and grow and become a better person." Now, when I said this, I was really only trying to sound deep and meaningful. I didn't really believe it.

Then, we went swimming. And we started talking about girls and boys.

Now, last week, she got on this kick that Jesse and Brian are brothers. Her reasoning: "Because they live together." When I told that they were not brothers, she said, "OK, they are cousins then." Still no, I said.

But yesterday, she had a breakthrough. I'm not sure how we got on the subject. I think Scott and I were talking about Nathan or something. She kept saying that it was "disgusting for two boys and two girls" to be together. I kept asking her why she thought so. Her answer: "I don't know."

Scott and I kept pressing into her that it's ok for 2 boys to love each other and be boyfriends. "What about 2 girls?" she inquired. That's ok too, I assured her, as is a boy and a girl.

Then I called Scott gay (which he is!). She asked what "gay" meant. I told her that it was 2 boys or 2 girls that are boyfriends or girlfriends. "EW!" she exclaimed. No, it's not, I told her, again. Scott and I proceeded to explain everything all over again. I ended the conversation with, "It's ok for 2 boys to be boyfriends, right? That means gay. And gay is okay, right?"

"YES!" she cried in exasperation (mostly because I kept saying it).

Then she said, "Well mom, if 2 girls like each other then you are gay too! You have friends who are girls so they are your girlfriends!" She later told Nathan and Brady, "My mom is gay!"

Oi vey!

Now, I still have some progress to make, I know. I do have 5 years of my mother's teachings to erase. But she finally understood that it's ok for 2 boys to be boyfriends. She realized that these men, who she loves dearly, love each other and that's normal.

I feel like I accomplished something great with her. She understands and accepts, at the young age of 6, what millions of other people feel is immoral and wrong. To her, there is nothing wrong with my gay boyfriends. To her, they are good people; ones she looks up to and has fun with. She has no judgments against them because of their sexual orientation. To her, they are: Jesse--the fun one (and favorite), Brian--the smart one, Scott--the skinny one, Brady--the one who swims, Adam--the weird one (which he is) and Shawn--the other one. They are my friends. And hers. She constantly begs for one of them to come over or for us to go visit them. Sometimes, she'd rather hang out with them instead of her own little friends.

One boy and one boy is ok.

I'm happy they are in our lives (mostly the first 3 on my list above). They have made both of us better people.

But one boy, and one girl boy, two hearts beating wildly.
To put it mildly, it was love at first sight.
He smiled, she he smiled, and they knew right away
that this was the day they'd waited for all their lives.
And for a moment the whole world
revolved around one boy and one girl boy.
"One Boy, One Girl Boy" Colin Raye