Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I watched my mom and dad build everything that matters - a family, a home and a good name.
For some people, home is family and their mom's house or their girl or whatever, and I have those experiences as well, but the biggest thing for me is Chicago.
We were never the family that ordered pizza, and my mom never came home with a bucket of fried chicken. My mom always made home-cooked meals. We always sat down at the dinner table as a family.
I'm from a very close-knit family, and there was something very... I guess you could say normal, about it, and I so appreciate that. We all ate dinner together every single night, and my mom stayed at home with us. I owe a lot to my parents.
I had to move out of my home in New York when I was 13. I left all my friends, family, my dogs, and summer camp... all that stuff behind. I moved out to L.A. with my mom and brother. That was difficult for me. I think the hardest part was seeing all my friends graduate without me and go to college.
After church on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, my family would go chop down our Christmas tree. Once it was home and placed in its stand, Mom and I would painstakingly decorate our tree. It took hours to place the tinsel, string the lights, find the perfect spot for my favorite macaroni and felt ornaments from kindergarten.
'Pose' makes the case that it's important to have some sort of family structure, even if you have to create one. You know, if I go back home for a while, my mom will be like, 'Oh, I didn't really throw you out the house.' And I know so many other LGBT parents who don't really own or talk about the rejection, and it prevents healing.
I've always been surrounded by many great people and professors, but my family, especially my mom who was a teacher, was the person who encouraged me to study and pushed me to continue. When we're young, we don't understand why our parents bug us so much with school and doing homework, but it's a blessing to have that support at home.