"My First Lesson"

I remember being in the sixth grade and "coming out" to my classmates through an exercise meant to exemplify what made me different and unique from everyone else. I know, what was I expecting? I obviously did not get the most welcoming reaction but nonetheless I made myself vulnerable for what would the six worst years of grade school (Not that I do not encounter the implications of queer issues currently, but I have learned to not dwell on the petty stuff) and yet they were the best six years because I learned what it meant to be "different" and that I was, I was different. I was so different that my sixth grade teacher, Ms. Salas, asked me to see her during my lunch break. I was scared and every second in my other class before lunch was torture. I knew that or at least I thought I had done wrong in saying what I felt was my truth. The walk to Ms. Salas class was unbearable but to my surprise Ms. Salas had bought some food for me and her to share. I can distinctly remember our conversation and the one piece of treasured advice she bestowed upon me and what I came understood as "Be as different as you want to be, don't be conventional; be unconventional: Alberto be Alberto" It is a characteristic that I have tried to hone throughout my life thus far and it works, it just works.

Dear Ms.Salas wherever you are, it is not much but this all I can offer you at the moment: THANK YOU FOR THE BEST SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE and the many more to come....