I must admit this, until serval years ago, I had no idea about "Pride" and precisely what it meant. After coming out of a 15 year marriage that blessed me with 3 beautiful children, I finally allowed myself the thoughtful indulgences, mentally, that were always so taboo to have.
Still, Pride is not the first thing on my mind, nor is it even a goal on the horizon. The newness of life itself became a burden in and of itself. In my mind at least, life resembled a coin; depending on what side you looked at, it would determine exactly what you got. I'm sharing this because Pride is not something that is a given, but instead it is something thats worked for; an individual, personal process.
Unfortunately, for many of our gay family out there, gay pride is the only pride they have in their life. I used to say that the gay lifestyle was a miserable one! I'm not conceding that fact, but what I am saying is that when there is no other semblance of pride in your life, if this is all you got, then yeah, it's miserable. Once I learned that, Peace of mind became a heart of joy. The joy evolved into many things, i.e self worth, confidence, and PRIDE!
The pride that I had, - had nothing to do with sexual orientation, desire or gender. That kind of pride simply permits you to be happy with who you are; to treat yourself better and simply want better. All the relationships around me seemed to get easier to have when that kind of pride set in, even with my ex-wife. After I fought to raise my kids and move on, a contentment and comfort came over me, it was well.
Familyblendz simply represents the results of Pride. Same word, different tense, but there is a journey from Pride to Proud. If you take any shortcuts along the way, there will indeed be hell to pay...but at what cost?
Today, there's not so much Pride, but as I look back, I am more Proud of the trip that I have taken. Come on, of course there are and were speed bumps along the way. Will there be more? Um duh! Of course! What I care about today is providing for my family, my significant spouse, and living each moment God blesses us with to its fullness. Be proud about you...gay pride? Well, life is what you make it. Don't elevate lifestyle above life itself.
Lets Go!
