I have an unconventional story of who my parents are. I have a mom and dad, biologically. I also have another mom.
Yes, I have two moms who are in a loving, committed relationship. Not a mom and a stepmom; the woman who my mom is in a partnership with has been raising me since the beautiful, easy age of 13. Fun fact, 13 was the wrong time to come into our lives because I was a hormonal and grumpy teenager. Even through the hard times she stuck by us all these years, came to all my school functions, helped me pay for college, found me voice lessons in high school, and someone to get me out of deep water. She was the person who was there when my own father wasn't. There were so many times I wish my absent father was present in my life, all the moments he missed. I have two moms who made up for all the work my father didn't for myself and my brother.
I forget that I have a parent who has experienced these moments and is grateful for that. I have one mom who is not tied to me in DNA or blood, but one who is, and has been with me since the first day I was born. My mom has been the most influential person I have ever met in my entire life and has shaped me into the person I am today. My second mom is not someone who is "there". She is the parent I include when I meet new people for the first time. I include my second mom if I talk about who supports me. I include my second mom for all the things my biological father should have been involved with.
Families come in all different shapes and sizes including nuclear families (mom, dad, and kids), single family homes, adopted families, extended families, no parents at all and so many more. Father's Day always reminds me of what I wish I had or what I want to happen in the end. I bet a lot of people do, but we can't think of what we wish would be reality. Mother's Day and Father's Day are supposed to be days where we appreciate the people who care for us the most no matter if their blood, relative, or simply a friend. These are days where we thank those adults who stayed with us through all those times when we all wanted to give up.
Thank you moms for everything you invest in us kids. Thank you moms for providing me a beautiful life I am eternally grateful for. Thank you moms for supporting my crazy goals and scatter brained mind when I don't know where my future is heading. Thank you moms for loving me through my highs, lows, and showing me the way out.
Thank you to my father who reminds me of the two parents I have in my life and that there is no one who could ever replace them. Thank you for being my father, but that day is earned by those who were there and you weren't. And that will never change.
