My cousin Sarah is married to the most amazing man. He was in the military for 10 years and now teaches high school Spanish. He's an awesome father to their four kids and all around a great man. Oh, did I mention he's half Lebanese and half Mexican? But he never knew his Lebanese father.
So he looks Middle Eastern and has a beard. Their kids are all darker than my cousin is- her oldest being the darkest and her youngest the lightest (strange how that happens). She was distraught this morning over something someone said on Facebook. Her father retired as a pilot and had his last flight yesterday. Her family met him at the gate. Someone actually posted on the photo that one of the flight attendants shared "I can't believe they let that terrorist so close to a plane!" this person was one of my cousin's friends! When she told him that was inappropriate and asked him to remove it- he told her to lighten up because it was funny. No, not funny to call someone a terrorist on a stranger's Facebook photo.
Then she shared that she gets crap like this all the time. People apparently always ask her where her kids are from because of their skin tone. I couldn't believe it! Who the hell walks up to a stranger and asks them about the color of their kids? And it worries me because my husband has darker skin. I know that my children are going to have brown hair and brown eyes and beautiful olive skin- and here I am the blonde with fair skin and freckles. I've known for a long time that I will look different from the rest of my family- but it shocks me that I will most likely have to deal with people asking me why my kids look different from me. I will have to rehearse saying, "It's none of your damn business."