My hometown friends

My hometown friends

If you follow me you know I was back home last week in New York. Someone asked when I was posting my pictures of me hanging out with all of my friends how come I have so many friends?

Well, I grew up an only child, my parents moved me upstate to have a better life than the city could have provided. My friends were the family I chose for myself, they were the brothers and sisters I didn't have.

And I wanted a lot of siblings,  my mother use to tell the story that I would tell people I had 10 siblings and my mom would say no, she just has a big imagination.
Every hoilday when my mom would ask me what I wanted, I would say a sister! She couldn't have any more children after a devastating miscarriage so I was it. I missed my big crazy family in the city and so I made up my own.

As a kid I couldn't imagine moving somewhere new and having to start over so I was the kid that invited all the new kids to come sit at our lunch table. My best friend Ricardo would say to me "What are we the ASPCA, adopting all the strays?"
But I didn't care, I still did it and it didn't matter if you were a stoner, a jock, a nerd, the rednecks, whatever you were, you were welcomed at my table.
That is why I have so many friends, because I didn't discriminate, no matter your race, your religion or your sexuality, you were welcomed and you were my friend.

I walked comfortably between all of the "clicks" I hung out with everyone just like my mama taught me at home.
We had an open door policy, anyone was welcome at our table and sometimes there would be black people, Chinese people, Jewish people, gay people and even drag queens sitting and eating together.  It was a site I loved as a kid and still love now.

I broke all the rules about staying with your "click" I hung out with the underclassmen and the upperclassmen and this is why I am now the self proclaimed "Reunion whore" now hanging out at all the reunions when I am home. I have friendships that span 40 plus years, real friendships where I call or see them on a conistant basis. I also have made Facebook friends along the way with people relating to my blog and reaching out to me. People who are now my real life friends, this is so amazing to me as all of these different people add so much to my life. Different cultures, different foods, different values, all give me an open mind to seeing things from another perspective besides my own.
It enriches my life, it makes my life richer, it makes me a better person, because it teaches me tolerance, compassion, it teaches me to see people for for they are, faults and all. It teaches me love, to be able to love one another without boundaries. I hope I have been able to teach my girls this as well, to be open and honest with who you are so that you can accept people for who they are and where they are at.

Because really we are all the same, we want love and to give love. We want a better life for our families than we had. We want world peace, we want to leave a better world to our children and grandchildren.
We want respect, we want to leave a legacy, we all want the same things, so then why is it so hard to see this? Why do we continue to have racism, classism and sexism? We need to have more friends of different races, cultures and sexual orientation so we can realize that we all want the same, that we all are the same.

So today my friends, and I do mean all of my friends, I thank you, my life is so much better because you are in it. I have learned to be a better, more well rounded person because of all of you and I get to choose my family, because you my friends, are the family I choose for myself.

"Be the change you want to see"
 
"And just when the caterpillar thought his life over...he turned into a beautiful butterfly"

**Now released my latest book**
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