Hi Grant,

I enjoyed the Debbie Wasserman Schultz article in Issue 205. The story reminded me of the time my sister told me about my five year old nephew, Mathew. Mathew has never known me, his uncle Jay, without also knowing his uncle Jay’s ‘best friend’ Ron. One day, Mathew asked his mother, my sister Karen, “Is Ron a member of our family?” Mathew was trying to understand how his uncle’s friend Ron fit into the family. Mathew, apparently, knew Ron was a ‘special’ friend to his Uncle Jay.

Ron always attended family gatherings, but at five years old, this was in 1987, Mathew was confused about his uncle’s relationship with this other man. Karen simply answered her son, “Yes, Ron is a member of our family.” Ron and I visited my sister’s family in 1992. We spent a week together. We all had a wonderful time. Mathew, now 10 years old, with a 6 year old brother Jason accepted Ron and I without blinking an eye. I am the oldest sibling, with four sisters and two brothers. Every member of my family, from my grandparents to my youngest nephew and niece, accept Ron and I as members of the family.

Also, Ron has a niece he is very close to, Elena. We met Elena’s fiance, Danny, in the 1989. Ron was the best man at Elena and Danny’s wedding, actually giving Elena’s hand in marriage to Danny. When their first child was born, Elena called us to tell us Danny and she had chosen to name their first child, Ronald James Tang. I immediately started to cry.

Ron and I met in March 1984, we married in Massachusetts in 2004 and honeymooned in Paris. We look forward to our 30th anniversary in 2014.

Thank you for the Florida Agenda and for the story reminding me of how fortunate I am to have a loving family. We moved to Florida from Boston, in 2006, and have found South Florida much different, less tolerant than Massachusetts, where we lived most of our lives. Your newspaper gives us hope: even here in Florida there are people who realize we all need each other.

Sincerely,

Jay