One of my closest, dearest friends, Isaac Kwock has been fighting fiercely against lung and bone cancer for 5 months. I wanted to have my birthday dinner with him, and we did have a birthday dinner! As a queer activist, who has worked with the angry people protesting AIDS injustice, police brutality both when Abner Louima was brutalized and when Amadou Diallo shot 41 times and killed, working as an ally with the Trans Justice day, Trans Day of Remembrance, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Audre Lorde Project as well as various other Human Rights Projects, anti-war demonstrations and against the death penalty, it is always very easy to remember many good reasons to be angry. I know I’ve been very angry many times, and continue to be angry at many things. However, some times, some of us forget that many times there are as many, if not more, reasons to be thankful as there are to be angry. Isaac always kept me and continues to keep me grounded, and reminds me constantly, his friendship being one, of the many things I am thankful for.
So I am grateful for the many friends that wish me well, those that love me and those that I love. I am grateful for all my experiences good and bad because they help forge who/what I am. I am thankful that I was alive last decade, last year, last month and yesterday, and I am thankful that tomorrow seems like another good day to continue living. Thankful for the parents I have who always believed in me even when they disagreed with what I did, and for my family, those that share my DNA as well as those that I’ve found or found me as we live.
And I am thankful for the lovely birthday dinner Martha (Isaac’s spouse) cooked for us. And I am thankful for Martha, and I am always thankful for Isaac, his friendship, loyalty and love, and for the two (2!) birthday cakes they had for me! HHmmmm que ricos!
All in all, this was a very good birthday day! Thanks you all.
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