The Diary of Joy

It Means the World

25. Peace, the year of the Phoenix

Dear Angel,

Last night, after the fabulous family dance we had, mom decided to tell us a bedtime story. The story was unexpectedly serious and yet inspiring. Also, it came as a surprise that mom was telling us the story since it was dad's turn.

When she finished the story, I understood why she felt the need to tell that specific story.

Anyway, the story, as many other stories mom has told us over the years, is based on real life. However, this time the focus of her story was aunt Linky, her side of mom and dad's story.

"So children, as you all know, when your father and I told everyone about our love, there were many who didn't approve.

They thought that life was all about rules and traditions, that breaking the traditions was the worst possible crime. We disagreed.

The ones who had the most difficulties accepting us were the ones from whom I expected unconditional acceptance, the ones who were always seen as kind and accepting, my fairy family.

It came as a great shock to me when my parents, my closest friends, turned on me just because they thought I loved the wrong person.

Even though I respected their opinions, I couldn't understand why they shunned me. It wasn't like I did anything that would harm them, I just wanted to live my life the way I chose. Surprisingly, that made most of them angry with me, except for Linky.

From day one, she proved to be my true friend, my only true friend among the fairies.

Although she didn't understand my relationship with your father, she could see I was happy, and that was all that mattered to her.

You see, the people who care about you might not understand you, they might not agree with your choices, but they will always stay by your side. If they see that something is making you happy, they don't ask you to give it up just because it doesn't conform with their set of beliefs, they are there for you no matter what.

I appreciated Linky's support and the fact that she had always stayed a true friend to me. However, it took me a few years to realize how much of a sacrifice that was for her.

She was the first one to accept my relationship with Van, and her willingness to do that, although she was pressured by the other fairies to walk away from me, was the first step towards acceptance.

Years later, she told me that every time she heard them speak badly of me, she felt like a traitor for not defending me.

However, she knew that if she said anything, it would lead to an argument, and them disliking me, well, us, even more.

So, she kept her mouth shut and stayed my friend. That's all she did, but it meant the world to me.

I feel like she did the right thing. If she had defended me in front of the others, it wouldn't have meant a lot to me, but Linky's friendship still means the world to me.

As time passed, people stopped telling her bad thing about me, because they wanted to argue with someone and since she denied them that pleasure, they just gave up.

They even accepted her friendship with me as something normal, and that, in turn, led many fairies to accept me, us, our perfect little family, although it didn't exactly fit in with the imposed standards.

Sometimes, my dear children, the acts that we see as the ones of cowardice when done by us, are seen as life-changing by people around us. Don't you ever forget that." Mom said.

"You aren't angry with aunt Linky? Not even a little bit?" I asked.

Looking into my eyes, she could tell that I wasn't talking about her, that I was talking about me. I wanted to make sure that I didn't hurt my mommy, that she wasn't angry with me.

"Absolutely not. I think that what she did was the bravest thing anyone could do.

When someone talks badly about the ones we love, the easiest thing to do is to try to defend them, get into a fight even. However, that's not always the best thing to do.

Sometimes, if you don't argue back, those who are saying bad things will get tired of arguing with themselves which will often make them stop and think. That's when they can reevaluate their opinions and make better decisions." Mom said.

As she tucked us in last night, she made it clear to me that she was truly alright with what had happened.

"I am so proud of you, my little angel." She whispered to me.

That made me so proud that I thought I might just burst out from joy.

Being praised by my mother always feels so much better than being praised by anyone else. It's precious.

So, as you can imagine, I slept like a baby and felt much better about everything that had happened. I even felt happy that I reacted the way I did because maybe that way a path was open for my grandparents to accept all of us, as a family. Maybe, I would be able to do what no one else could, maybe I could bring mom her parents back. I am sure she would love that because we all want to have our parents on our side.

From time to time, I still feel a silver of doubt, but then I remember mom's words, and I feel like everything would be okay.

Mom was proud of me, she thought I was doing the right thing, and that is all that matters. As long as I have the love and support of my parents, I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to.

Anyway, today I am going to try to see if I can find a way to help my grandparents become more accepting; if I can speed up the process.

I've been reading up on some wise fairy books as well as some human ones, to see how one can help someone become more open-minded, accepting. So far I haven't found anything that sounds promising but I am persistent, I will find something.

I am not sure what will or will not work on fairies, but there is no harm in trying, is there?

If there is anything that I can do to make this world better for my family and so many families like my mine, who are different, who don't fit in, I will be sure to do that. No one deserves to suffer just because other people don't believe in the same things as they do. We all deserve to be happy, and that is something I will try to show to my grandparents any way I can.

Anyways, thank you for always being by my side, my friend, it means the world.

Love,

Joy