Saturday, December 11, 2010

"...The Funniest Boy in the World Wouldn't be Here!"

One of my best friends shared a story recently about a teaching moment she had with her children. She has two beautiful little girls. I'll call them Alexandra and Rebeca. Alexandra, her oldest, is stunning with big green eyes and blond hair and a complexion that most women would kill for. She's tall, too, for her ten years and already stands eye-to-eye with me (a modest 5'4" on my tallest day). Her beauty is matched, dare I say, exceeded by her intellect. She has a scientific mind coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit that promises great success in her future. She and Hunter are in the same class.

Rebeca, her youngest, is blessed with her father's eyes, a beautifully mischievous smile, and a take-no-prisoners attitude. She's adorable and has harbored a long time love for our son Hunter. Hunter knows how to work that affection to his advantage. We can all take heart that he uses his powerful charm for good. When she slips into an angry mood, if Hunter is around, he knows exactly how to act silly enough to melt that angry pout into a beautiful smile and whatever is bothering her at the time is overshadowed by her joy in having his attention. Lately, she's called Hunter "the funniest boy in the world."

My friend recently returned to the stage after spending several years away enjoying her favorite starring role as her daughters' mother. She is performing as Fraulein Schneider, in Cabaret. While discussing with her children the backdrop against which the musical is set, she told them about all of the victims of the Holocaust, including Jewish people and anyone else who didn't fit Hitler's Aryan definition of what it is to be German. She also told them that gay and lesbian people were often victims of his murderous reign. Because the girls are so close to our family, they were shocked to learn that in the 1940s, one her favorite friend's parents could have been killed. Rebecca's reaction was, "That's terrible! If that happened today, the funniest boy in the world wouldn't be here!"

What I love most about that story is how  it demonstrates how much she loves Hunter. She would never want anything terrible to happen to him; so to her, the thought that he may never have existed is outrageous.  Before she heard about the atrocities committed against gay people, it wasn't a big deal that Hunter's parents were gay. What was greatest in her mind was that if Hunter's parents weren't here, then the funniest boy in the world wouldn't have been here. 

Although we have come a long way since the 1940s, to a large degree we still have a long way to go before GLBT people are given equal rights and protections under the law in the United States. However, the fact that a little girl in Hunter's school is willing to move mountains for him, gives me great  hope for the future.

Hunter is here today because of the love Donna and I share and our unwavering faith and belief that we would be blessed with children one day. I pray that the same divinity that brought him and Skye into our lives touches more lives and ushers in a more inclusive, more accepting, and more loving time.

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