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Old February 22nd, 2010, 12:03 AM
Equla Equla is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Las Vegas, NV USA
Posts: 294
Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleRR View Post
I admire you, Equla. You were both stronger and more intelligent about yourself than I. Having married the father of my children and raising both -- ending up with a terrible marriage that I escaped after 20 yrs plus a daughter who hates me---I wish I had gone with my guts as you did!
Thank you. I usually get one of 3 reactions when I tell people I put children up for adoption: sympathy, anger, or praise. Praise is the only one I feel good about. The other two make me feel badly.

What it boils down to is living for yourself and making choices accordingly. We only get one life and I never wanted to get to the end of it and look back thinking I didn't do what was right for me. I think that's the heart of many socially-upsetting issues. We are so worried that someone will think less of us because we strayed from THEIR norm -- not even THE norm -- that we will do whatever it takes to fit in.

In the end, it's the choices we make that form who we are. I applaud anyone who would walk around wearing a shirt with block letters proclaiming "I'm GAY!!!" or make the choice to stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of the children, or leave a loveless marriage for the sake of themselves. It's all about what felt right at the time. If you can look back at your life and honestly say, "It seemed like the thing to do at the time," then you lived a life that is true to you and your personal ideals. We don't get to know how our decisions will impact our lives later on. We have to make the choice right then and there.

If nothing else, I believe honesty is key... to yourself and others. If you want to walk around as a male in dresses and wigs, fine! It is you, and anyone who doesn't want to see it can look the other way. The same thing goes for lesbians that feel more comfortable wearing pants and short haircuts... it's you! We are all different and the sooner we learn to embrace and celebrate our differences, the sooner we can start singing kumbaya and waiting for the aliens to show up.

After all... aren't we all connected by one common thread around here? We all love animals. We all own different animals. Someone on here may be a card-carrying member of PETA and believe that pitbulls are demon-spawn and should be wiped from the Earth. Others have bought from a petshop instead of adopting. No matter what, we accept each other based on the fact that we all are here to better understand our furry roommates, kids, or boyfriends (in my case). Why should it be so much of a stretch to unite over the common thread of humanity and celebrate our subtle (yes, SUBTLE) differences such as skin color, religion, or sexual orientation?... when we already unite as parents to many different breeds, colors, genders, and aquisition of our furkids.

On this site, we get personal. It doesn't seem like a stretch to me that sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, age, etc. are part of our daily conversations. Just makes me feel closer to you all.
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The Beasts...

The Maine Coon Mafia (litter mates)
Casey - Male Maine Coon, 3 years
Mak - Male Maine Coon, 3 years

The abandoned newcomer: Linus - Male Tabby, 1 year
Minnie - Female Tortie, RIP 9/3/93-8/18/09 (In Heaven, but never far from our hearts)

The Pooches... Best friends for life.
Miko - Male Chi/Terrier mix, 2 years
Mansa - Male Pit Bull, 1 year
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