Bette commented on how much Beka looked like me with the exception of the blue eyes which looked like Sarah’s.  I explained that Beka and I though 10 years different were always much closer than myself and Sarah just under 4 years different.

She asked questions about my growing up in North Carolina, my college, how I had come to work at Alphaville and anything and everything she could think about my life.

Then it was her turn I waited for her to start and it became apparent that she was hesitant to open up.  But after a few minutes of silence she got up walked down the hall into her room and came out with a box.  She opened the box and pulled out the top picture of a beautiful woman that she closely resembled and told me of her mother Maxine.  With a tear in her eye she told me that her mother had left her father when Bette was eight years old and she hadn’t seen her or heard anything from her since.  I moved in closer to her, wrapped one of my arms around her and she continued pulling out a picture of an African-American man young and dapper looking with a small cute little girl in a school uniform standing in front of a large brick school building.  She introduced me to Melvin Porter, a lawyer that still practices in Philly. 

I sat there surprised that her father was black, I’m in no way racist and it doesn’t matter what race anyone is.  She looked over at me and must have picked up on my confused face, she pulled away from me stuck her hand out to me and said, “Hi I’m Elizabeth Marie Porter, I’m a 33 year old biracial, lesbian, I own my own art gallery and have for the last three years.  My birthday is December 19, 1963.  My parents are Melvin Porter a successful lawyer back in Philadelphia where I grew up, my mother is Maxine Porter who left when I was eight and haven’t seen or heard anything from her since then, I have an older sister Katherine, Kit or Katie as our father calls her who is 14 years older than me and is from a previous relationship that my father had.  I have a nephew David who is 14 and lives with his father in Philly.  I came out of the closet in college although I knew I was a lesbian since I was 16.  My father is in denial over my sexual orientation even though I told him I was gay a dozen years ago.  I like Italian and Thai food, and thoroughly enjoy spending every free moment I have with my amazing girlfriend.”  She looked over at me and seemed to be trying to figure out how my mind was processing all the information that she had just told me.