I was thinking about how many people were so unhappy during their school years – especially high school; and I started wondering how and why I got off so easy. 

I was a fat girl who played French horn, never wore makeup, was clueless about her hair, bit her nails to stubs and didn’t dress that great.

I was a perfect target.

And I realized that my whole life, I have surrounded myself with lots of different communities (“families”, if you will).

In high school, I had my nerd (math and science) friends; my artsy-fartsy friends (creators and makers); my musician friends, and my theater friends, with lots of crossovers between groups. 

I had friends that were very popular and friends who were not that popular. 

I could give a shit if someone was popular or not.  It was more about whether or not I “got” you and if you “got” me.

And since then, I’ve continued to have my various families – my Michigan peeps, my theater peeps, my fat community, my LGBTQ+ family. 

I guess I’ve just always been interested in people – all kinds of people. 

People are interesting as fuck. 

And they come in more flavors than Howard Johnson had ice cream.

So why would anyone want to settle for just one flavor? 

Don’t let your life just be a bowl of cherries – go get yourself a bigger bowl and have some fun!