Sometimes, when I look at my family, I see exactly how come I ended up such a crazy person.

Every week, I go to Niterói (a city nearby), to see my grandmother, my little cousin, his mother and my grandfather. They are part of my mother's side of the family, the Araujo's. People are always asking why do I bother to go so often, and, when I explain my family lives there, they usually understand. Still, they look at me in a weird way, as if some of them don't visit their grandparent's weekly, even if they live in the same city. Truth is, most of us teenagers don't really dedicate time and attention to our families -- or, at least, as much as we should. By going over to Niterói for the past two years, I've been trying to change that.

One bright summer day, my grandfather, my grandmother, my (gay) cousin, his husband, my (lesbian) cousin, my godmother, my mum, a friend of the family and her husband got together for breakfast, and, for some random reason, after much discussion and laughter, decided that they were very Interesting people (with a capital "I"), and formed what became known as "The Interesting People Club" (in a very rough translation).

All of this took place while I was on vacations. When I came back from Africa, my mum told me all about it, and they invited me and my (lesbian) cousins' partner to join the group. We went out for breakfast and explained to them why we were so Interesting, and they voted us in. We're now trying to get together every month to pretty much just talk and be our Interesting selves together.

What is amazing about this is that we're oh so very different people. For one, there's me, crazy eighteen year-old lesbian who studies Law -- in the same group as my seventy year-old, rather conservative, hard-working grandmother whose cooking skills usually makes me gain a few pounds every now and then. What glued us together in the first place was something I didn't give much importance to some time ago, but that I now realise how important it is: family bounds. What kept us together was (as stupid as it sounds to say it) love. What made us as close as we are is a total mystery to me.

So today something amazing happened at the monthly reunion of the Club.

My cousin Renato's partner bought him a ring for his birthday, and, after breakfast, made a toast, gave him the ring and put in on his finger. Renato did the same. And, just like that, two gay men who had been together for nine years, made their marriage official in front of the family. Everyone clapped, drank champagne and approved it. I was surprised to see my grandmother and father congratulating them, acting in a total normal way -- no judgment.

I never really did come out to most of them, but I know they know, and I worried for some time about the situation, even though there are other gay people in the family. After all, they are not as close to my grandparents as I am (when it comes to blood). In fact, my lesbian cousin isn't even from my family per se, but daughter of an old friend of my grandmother's.

Today, though, I wasn't afraid anymore. I just knew one day I would bring a girl home, and it would be ok. More then ok, people would be happy for me.

The Araujo's never cease to surprise me. Maybe we really are that Interesting after all.

Post scriptum: It didn't even feel like Easter, since I didn't get any eggs or anything, but I hope all you chocolate-lovers had an amazingly sweet day!
Post post scriptum: 9 days, no cigarettes. I'm actually proud of myself.