Longtime knitting friend Carol and her daughter went to the Philly Gay Pride parade this past weekend to support her oldest son (and older brother).  It reminded me of how important the love and support of parents and siblings are.

A Mother’s Love

A few months after my mom found out I was gay, my sister tells me about an incident with my mom and one of her neighbors.  My mom is out chatting with a couple in a neighboring house and the man tells a rather innocuous gay joke.  I don’t remember the joke now, but I recall it wasn’t meant to be hateful, in fact I remember it made me laugh.

My mom replied…”My son is gay, and I find that joke offensive.”

I can’t tell you how proud I was of my mom.  More importantly, it made me realize how critically important it was for me to have her love and support.  She wasn’t thrilled to know her son was gay, and she struggled with it for a while, but her thinking evolved quickly.  A longtime friend of hers reminded her that I had always been a good son and that hadn’t changed.  Having a friend be supportive of my mom seemed important in her evolution.

Sister Kathy and mom

My mom and I have a great relationship these days.  She lives a couple of miles from me and I’m glad to be around for when our family gets together or when she needs me for something…like this weekend I’ll be feeding her cat.

Allies…friends…parents…brothers and sisters…and even social media friends and blog readers…people you can be sure of…such an important part of my life.  I’m blessed and grateful for all of them.

Current Knitting

It’s growing…

Another layer of hearts have been added on to the Heart Baby Blanket…only four more rows of hearts to go.

I like that this blanket looks good on either side…in fact I’m not sure whether I prefer the reverse stockinette heart on a stockinette background…

…or a stockinette heart on reverse stockinette background.

Fortunately, it looks good either way.