Pride Parade

I get silly with excitement when thinking about the upcoming Pride Parade! This year will be my 5^th parade and it seems as if it were just yesterday I made my scary drive into Boston for my first outing. ( No pun intended!)

As I reflect over the past five years I see this time as a process, similar to the growth of a flowering tree. Let me explain. When I first joined PFLAG seven years ago, it was as if I were just a sapling, and during the next two years, the monthly PFLAG meetings were like shots of fertilizer, the kind you would use on a sapling to promote a sturdy root system. During those years the foundation for the later growth was established.

The first parade, in my 3^rd year of PFLAG represents the maturation of the leaves and branches . At the second parade and 4^th year of PFLAG, its height was established and its trunk began to thicken.

By the third parade and the 5^th year of PFLAG, the leaves and branches of the tree had reached maturity and small buds began to appear. Last year, my fourth parade and 6^th year of PFLAG, a bounty of mature beautiful buds burst into bloom. I have finally become the tree I was supposed to be.

So it is with silly excitement that I look forward to this year's parade. I am now a full grown mature tree marching and being seen supporting the men and women that deserve our understanding, our love, and their right to equality.

My hope for the future is that there will be groves of flowering trees, just like myself, planted in every state, country and continent, and there will be freedom and justice for all.