[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last week we asked you the following question:

“Where are the places in your life where you can show up exactly as you are and be embraced? What makes that possible?”

Here are the answers we received:

  • “A friend is not a fella who is taken in by sham, a friend is one who knows your faults and doesn’t give a damn.❤”
  • At home with my family & with friends. Valuing honesty, authenticity, & mutual respect.
  • At home with Tim. He’s very calm and accepting.
  • At home, at Foothills, at my sister’s house.
  • Being with a group of friends.
  • Church. My daughter’s. They are places I can be myself and know that I am loved unconditionally”Home
  • Facebook lol, those who don’t embrace me can unfriend. Jk, (not really) but yes thankful for all the loving friends and family.
  • Family in its broadest sense / “definition”.
  • Family, good friends.
  • Foothills UU. Foothills is an accepting community for all including GLBTQ individuals.
  • Home.
  • Home because home is where I deeply feel unconditional love and acceptance.
  • Home, loving daughter and husband. They know me well. Doesn’t mean it is always easy:)
  • Home…consistent love.
  • I’m fortunate because I feel this way about my immediate family at home and in my work team.
  • My family & my best friend. Our relationship & unconditional love for each other make that possible.
  • My nuclear family (the one I grew up in), Conjunction Junction ‘young adult’ group that was formed in 1994; also writing in my journal to connect my past, present and future selves with each other 🙂
  • Only with my dogs can I truly be myself. They don’t judge and I don’t have to be anything but me. Everywhere else I show up in a role of some sort. Man, bread winner, employee, father, husband, tall guy. You get the picture.
  • Only with very close friends and family.
  • Our home. Also, When I gather with my sisters no matter where that is. It used to be at our childhood home.
  • Our Gather Group Meeting virtual or real.
  • Love makes this possible.
  • Phone calls to long time friends and relations.
  • Pretty much everywhere at Foothills but especially in my small groups (sisterhood, wellspring, community). With my family and friends. I guess most everywhere; at this age I’m not interested in pretense or hiding 😊
  • What makes it possible? I have a kind therapist who is working pro bono.
  • There are very few places I feel unconditional acceptance. It’s probably my own insecurity. Foothills Unitarian Church.
  • When amongst members of my family…primarily my sisters. My husband and daughter & son, as well.  They love me no matter how I look and I love them.
  • With family.
  • With my best friend, my family, and my wellspring group! Care, openness, patience, commitment.
  • With my dogs they love me just as I am. And my Husband as well so if I am having a shitty day they love and accept me as I am
  • With my family and close friends. Made possible by unconditional love and respect.
  • With my family, at work, and at church. I am lucky!
  • With my friends and my middle child. They make it easy to be myself.
  • With my neighbors Al and Abigale and their kids– also in group texts/Zoom meetings with a circle of 5 friends from TX days. All made possible by open loving hearts and no judgment if your shirt still has mustard on it….

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