Love Is Love


Love Is Love

Support comes from many sources

I grew up living in a household of all girls and my mom, a single mother. My parents divorced when I was too young to remember; after that, my father was, as we like to say, incognito. I never really felt at a loss for support in my life. I think that’s important to talk about.

It’s easy to think that because I don’t have the stereotypical nuclear family, I’m therefore missing something. However, I had so many people who weren’t my biological father supporting me. One example is my godfather, Peter, whom my mother met during her freshman year of college; he has always been such a huge part of my life. He came to farmers’ markets almost every week when I was a child, letting me use his shoes as stilts and getting my sister and me crepes. When I was in high school, he supported my plea to turn my thin curly hair straight, get bangs, and dye the bottom bright pink (bad, bad idea). And when I decided to defer my college acceptance last year and instead accepted a scholarship to live in southern Brazil with a host family, he told me to follow my dreams (cliché, but true) and eased my mother’s worries. That Peter is not my biological father isn’t really important to me because throughout my life, he has been a loving, caring person by my side.

I also have my grandparents with whom we spend every Sunday night. They give us anything we need when things are lacking, all while going to every ballet recital, water-polo game, and graduation (even from fifth grade!), not to mention videotaping all those events and giving us numerous DVDs as keepsakes.

Love isn’t quantifiable. And it doesn’t really matter who gives it. Love from a biological father isn’t any more special or of a higher value than the love I receive from all the important people in my life.


Image: Juno Fullerton

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