As a little girl living in Orange County, California, my favorite activities were sleepovers, Disneyland, and going swimming after school. I always had a freshly packed lunch, a smile on my face, and a group of friends that were "the forever kind." I didn't realize I was different until I wanted to host my own sleepover. My friend's parents wouldn't allow it, and I didn't know why. It wasn't until years later that I realized it was because I have two Mom's. As the years went by, more and more instances occurred that highlighted how "different" I was from my friends who had a Mom and a Dad. For me, I thought having two Mom's was normal, why would I think that it wasn't? The older I got the more adversity I experienced until finally, I would make up stories about how I didn't have a father and that I just had one Mother and she raised my brother and I by herself. Sometimes I had a Mother and a Father, other times, one of my Mom's was my Aunt or my Mom's friend. I would lie about my family because I hated the incessant questioning and the prodding into my personal life. It wasn't anyone's business and I didn't want to hear people's opinions on my family or how wrong they thought it was. When I was in high school, one of my friends who discovered my family dynamic asked me, "Do you ever see them have sex? What's it like? You should totally watch it one time." It was questions and moments like that that I just didn't want to deal with. I made up lies not because I was ashamed of my family but because I didn't want the world to tear me, and my family apart. Over time, my lies would catch up with me, people would ask questions and I wouldn't know how to get myself out of them. Every lie I told turned into an even bigger lie and I didn't know what fiction I told to which person. Eventually, I got over it. By eventually, I mean college. Obama was president, Modern Family was gaining more and more popularity, people's minds were finally opening and I finally felt safe to tell the truth. When the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, I felt a calm. I felt pride, I felt happy, relieved, confident. At the age of twenty four, I posted my first family picture on social media and although I felt so proud, I was terrified. It was as if I was "coming out" for the first time. Underneath it all, the person I was most ashamed of was myself. I was ashamed for not saying "Fuck You" to the people that gave me a hard time. For hiding the biggest part of my life from so many people because I was scared of what they would say, what they would do, what they would think. I thought people would stop being my friend if they found out. When my parents divorced, I didn't tell any of my friends because it would spark too many questions and uncover all of the lies I had told. I had to live with the weight of my family falling apart by myself and I fell in a depression. I wish I was a stronger person then. I wish I could tell my teenage self that it would all be okay, that no matter how people reacted, I would not be the wrong one. My family would not be the "wrong" family, the people with the small minds would be the wrong ones. When I posted the picture of my two moms, holding me and my brother, I gained a sense of my identity back. The struggle I went through, the not ever fitting in thing that all kids experience, the homophobia, the gay slurs I had to endure, I am not prideful of that but it made me into the strong woman I am today and that, I am proud of.