The Rest of the Trip to New Orleans plus Caroline’s new talent

I got up before the rest of the gang and packed us up. I tiptoed around Caroline's crib picking up stray toys and other things she had collected during the weekend. About 8:45 everyone else woke up and we went to breakfast with Richard and Wendy Pini.

Having said our good-byes to the Pinis, we finished packing and stowed the luggage. Then we went to the Aquarium which is next to the Riverwalk Mall at the south end of the French Quarter. It was a good call on Peter's part since Caroline loves aquariums. She romped for over an hour and a half looking at various animals. Her new favorites were a playful pair of otters. We walked through the Mall and she fell asleep in her stroller. This gave us a chance for a quiet lunch. I introduced Ariel to the various tastes of New Orleans cooking through a very good sampler platter.

We got back to the hotel and decided to leave early for the airport. We get into the airport only to find that our 6:20 plane has been delayed to 7:55 and it is 4:10. The plane left at 8:20 and we finally got home about 1:30 am. Caroline was pretty good but she was full of energy from her nap. We took turns chasing her around the airport. One of the gates had a great children's toy for her to play with. It was a bunch of wooden beads on wires that twisted and turned. She moved one set of beads from point A to point B and back again. This occupied her until the plane was ready to go.

Yesterday I was a zombie. I slept most of the day except taking Caroline to Mommy and Me. In the evening I started to feel more human. This morning I got up with Ariel to get her to camp. Peter worked through the night so he is sleeping in.

Caroline's new talent is in her ability to draw. She was playing with her Magna-Doodle. Recently she had started to draw circles as circles. Now she is very deliberately adding eyes and a mouth to these drawing. I asked her what she was drawing and she said, "Oswald" which is an octopus she likes. She even drew his hat and legs. Now she is starting to explore what else she can draw. It is incredible to watch.

I am grateful I got to see her draw with purpose.

Homophobia and You:

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church; not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most; love.

I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

Re-post this if you believe homophobia is wrong. Please do your part to end it.