This past Friday was National Coming Out Day. Last year I did so very quietly, yet publicly, via Facebook. Just copied and pasted a support message for equality and added two little words at the end, “like me”. While I am my own person and am constantly working toward being myself, my unique me, those two little words are still important to me. To find people like me is an important part of my growth process, my awakening. There is an extraordinary strength in numbers.
In June I went to Seattle for my first Pride event. It was absolutely one of the greatest experiences of my life. To say I was overwhelmed and blown away is putting it lightly. My senses were on overload. My brain was taking in information faster than I could process it. All these months later, I still replay scenes in my head over and over. There was an event called the Dyke March. (should this be capitalized?) It sounded so flipping intimidating. Not only do we have the small town girl in the big city thing going on, there is the fact that I’ve never been around so many gay people in my life. People like me! I was a part of it! I marched! In this march… oh yes. There were people like me. That looked like me. That dressed like me. That surely shared similarities as far as life experiences. Hallalooyah! I didn’t feel like I was stuck in suburban/mommy/heterosexual mode. I was just me. The feelings oozing into every pore in my body just cannot be conveyed, even all these months later. Joy, exhilaration, freedom… they are just a drop in the bucket of awesomeness that was Pride.
The parade was ahhhh-mazing. Brain. Overload. Tears. Revelry. Inside my head I’m jumping up and down and squealing and saying, “Oh my god” over and over and over again. My eyes about popped out of my head with some of the parade’s marchers. Again, small town girl. The colors, the people, the smells, the sounds, the sun. I really can’t say “wow” enough.
These experiences in my life leave me realizing how grateful I am. How lucky I am. How motivated I am to be the best me I can be. Because somewhere out there, there are people like me. I am not alone. I am not on my own.