I have always been a spiritual seeker, even before I was aware of it. In the early 1990s, my life partner and I knew we wanted to have a baby and we set about to find a community, where two women could parent with support and acceptance of a larger village. We were seeking a church because, oddly enough, it seemed like to natural place to look.

We tried a Christian LGBT-friendly church and it was wonderful to be accepted as a couple but the pulpit messages of “Jesus” and the “Bible” made me feel lost, awkward, and unwelcome. I had been raised Roman Catholic, but had long since cast off traditional Christian beliefs.

We found out about First Church at an Earth Day celebration in Balboa Park. That in itself is a statement. Words like “liberal,” “open,” “welcoming”, and “spiritual journey” resonated deeply.

When we attended our first Sunday, I was struck by the beauty of the campus, the lack of saints and statues, and mostly by the wholesome, healthy, and functional interactions between the children and adults. There even was a rainbow flag, right there, in the middle of the patio.

Could it be that I was truly welcome to be who I was and join in this community?

It almost felt like there was some hidden secret - some weird belief would sideswipe me in the form of “the other shoe dropping." It couldn’t be that Unitarian Universalism had existed all these years without my knowing it. We decided to join and were told to find a smaller group, or, as the minister at the time said, “a tribe within the village,” so we would begin to build connections. We were told that because of its size, people sometimes feel less a part of the church without connecion and end up leaving.  I didn’t want to end up leaving a place I had wanted for so long; so, I jumped right in and picked one activity. I auditioned for a play that Looking Glass Theatre was doing. I had a small part and after three months, I knew 60 people by sight, if not by name.

When I attended on Sundays, I always saw at least one person who greeted me. Needless to say, the “other shoe” never dropped. There weren't any weird secrets or beliefs. And, if anything, I ended up being the weird one here.

My partner and I now have an 8 year-old son who is being raised a Unitarian Universalist. I actually work in the church office as Inreach Coordinator-a paid staff person. If you would have told me that one day I’d become the “church lady” I had always made fun of, I would never have believed you…but having lived and grown in this faith and this congregation, I can say that it is the most awesome place to live out a meaningful life as a spiritual seeker.