LGBT+

My Family Portrait

I think I always knew my family was different, even at a very young age. How can you not, when you're constantly bombarded with images from the media depicting how the "average" family is supposed to look? At some point, I must've just asked a question, my parents answered honestly, and that was the end of it. Nothing was that big a deal when you were four or five years old.

I can clearly remember, however, when I first started seeing it as a big deal.

It was the first day of second grade at my new school. We had moved to this town over the summer, so I didn't know anybody here, but I was still as excited as ever about starting school. I loved to learn.

Mrs. Green was very eager to give us our first assignment. She handed out big sheets of white poster paper and instructed us to draw pictures of us with our families. The assignment was called "My Family Portrait" and was going to be the first project hung out in the hallway to be viewed on parent's night. I was so excited. Drawing was one of my favorite things to do. It still is.

So we all got started. I drew myself first, of course, taking extra time on my beautiful, silky blonde hair that went all the way down my back. As an extremely girly seven-year-old, I was obsessed with my hair.

Next, I drew my little sister Kimberly. She was only five, but I thought of her as my best friend. I was always very protective of her, so I drew her right next to me. I used a cocoa brown colored pencil to shade in her skin, since she was a lot darker than me, and drew her curly hair up in braids.

I had already finished drawing my parents when Mrs. Green came to my table. She had been walking around the classroom the whole time, observing like teachers tend to do, and commenting on our drawings.

"Very nice, David!"

"How lovely, Brianna!"

"You're all doing fantastic. Keep up the good work!"

And then, she came to my table. I had finished my entire family, including our cat, and was now drawing our house behind us.

"My, my you work fast, Janet!" Mrs. Green stated loudly. "And it's just beautiful! It...." But then she trailed off, truly studying my picture. I didn't notice, however. I was so proud that she seemed to love my drawing the best!

"This is me," I said, pointing excitedly. "And this is my sister Kimberly, and our cat Tipsy. We call him that because he bumps into stuff a lot. And this is Mother, and this is-"

"Is that your mother's sister, Janet?" Mrs. Green interrupted. She seemed confused, though I didn't understand why.

"No," I said, like it was obvious. "That's Mama. And now, I'm drawing our house. And then I'll draw-"

"But Janet," Mrs. Green interrupted again, seeming even more confused. "You've already drawn your mom. Why did you draw her twice?"

I sighed, frustrated by my teacher's stupidity. It was very obvious that they were two different people. Mama had dark skin, like Kimberly, and Mother had white skin and blonde hair like me. And they were obviously married. I drew them holding hands.

"Mrs. Green, they're both my moms," I said, speaking slowly so that she could understand.

She just raised her eyebrows, then said, "Oh." and walked away.

I went back to drawing, and didn't think anymore of the incident.

******

On Monday morning the next week, I skipped all the way to school, very excited to see my drawing up on the wall. I had been very proud when I had finished it, deciding that it was probably my best drawing ever.