about love. About courage. About the eleventh birthday party.

Original link: https://shinekid.com/2022/10/birthday-party-for-eleven/

On October 22, the 11th birthday party and the second birthday event of Loudi’s outstanding partners were quietly held in a remote community.

Although the venue for the event is a bit shabby, the careful layout makes it extra warm and joyful.

me and eleven

Long before the birthday party was held, I was notified by Yihong that I needed to come over to help set up the scene. After all, this is a birthday celebration for Eleven, and it would be inappropriate for him to come and arrange it.

At this time, I am still a temporary volunteer of Loudi’s excellent partner, and I have only known Yihong and Shiyi for more than three months.

When I met Yihong and Eleven, I had just returned to Loudi from out of town, and that time was also one of the darkest moments in my life. With the mentality of having something to do to distract my attention, I contacted Yihong and expressed my willingness to become a volunteer. So Yihong asked me to come out to meet, and also met Eleven at this temporary gathering.

My first impression of Eleven is that of a person who seems to exist in his own world, quiet, shy, and maintains a slight sense of alienation from strangers. This sense of alienation isn’t that kind of indifference that’s alienated, it’s a feeling as if there’s no connection between me and you.

However, this impression was quickly shattered. After all, there were quite a lot of activities of outstanding partners in Loudi, and these activities were inseparable from Yihong and Eleven.

In terms of event organization, Yihong is a creative school with unrestrained imagination, while Eleven is a down-to-earth and practical school. Therefore, the landing and execution of each event are ultimately without the assistance of Eleven. After all, Yihong, who is a little rough, sometimes does not take into account some details.

Later, as the activities and trainings I participated in increased, I had more contact and understanding with Eleven. At this time, Eleven has put away his protective color, and after a more in-depth exchange, I found that Eleven and I have more common topics. And what surprised me the most is that we seem to have the same thing in common in soul, like Soulmates who have known each other for a long time.

Eleven and excellent partners

Eleven is a veteran-level volunteer of Loudi’s outstanding partner. When he joined, Loudi’s outstanding partner had just passed the initial stage. A sudden encounter on social software, he discovered this volunteer organization related to minorities. So he contacted Yihong out of curiosity, hoping to participate in a sharing session at that time.

Eleven himself felt a little surprised about this connection. After all, he was prepared to participate in the preparation of being “deceived”. After all, no one would have thought that there would be such a volunteer organization in a fourth- and fifth-tier inland city.

It is also this time, either unintentionally or intentionally, that the fate of Eleven and Loudi’s outstanding partners began. To put it in a more “hot-blooded” way, the gear of fate is turning at this moment…

From temporary volunteers to formal volunteers, monthly donors, and then to outstanding partner volunteer supervisors in Loudi, Eleven has gone further and further on this road.

Although Eleven said that he just didn’t want to see the long-planned event stalled due to the negligence of others, and also complained that he shouldn’t put too much energy into the volunteer organization. But whenever Loudi’s outstanding partner needed him, he still threw himself in without hesitation.

Excellent partner and birthday party

Loudi Excellent Partner was established in 2018. Compared with other fraternal chapters, Loudi Excellent Partner may be regarded as a junior. However, for a city like Loudi that is rarely seen in national news reports, it is very rare to have such a volunteer organization willing to help LGBTQ+.

As a minority group, LGBTQ+ is only reflected in the proportion, but it is not a rare group in any city. For a number of reasons, they cannot reveal their identities and do not know how to deal with themselves, their families and society. This confusion not only exposes them to potential harm, but also an irreparable loss to their families. Because of this, how lucky it is to have a good partner in Loudi.

Excellent Partners has been working to help LGBTQ+ “identify themselves” and build bridges between LGBTQ+ and their parents to achieve family acceptance of minorities.

The birthday party is one of several special events for Excellent Partners. The purpose of the birthday party is not only to provide opportunities and occasions for communication, gatherings and exchanges within the LGBTQ+ community, but also a catalyst for outstanding partner volunteers to bond with outstanding partners.

All the volunteers are ordinary people, and they all participate in outstanding partners with enthusiasm and ideals. But we can’t deny that the warm blood will gradually become cold with time, so there are always old volunteers quietly saying goodbye to us. And maybe when everyone is hesitant and at a loss, the appearance of a birthday party can ignite everyone’s passion.

birthday party and eleven

Due to some restrictions, the number of friends who can come to the birthday party in person is still limited. But even so, friends who did not come sent their blessings through remote video.

At the beginning of the birthday party, Yihong sent blessings on behalf of everyone, and Eleven also expressed his gratitude and gratitude.

There seems to be a big difference between Eleven at this time and the Eleven I met three months ago. The boy who is willing to smile in front of others no longer has that faint sense of alienation, and his image has become more vivid. and real.

Some of the friends who came to the scene may be strangers to each other, but everyone quickly became familiar with jokes and games. With the help of red wine and cakes, everyone began to let go of their inner guard, and the atmosphere of the scene gradually reached a climax.

The time to get together is always limited. After the sideshow, everyone said goodbye and left. Because I, Eleven and another friend were staying by the way, we chose to leave together.

The noisy street lights made the stars and moonlight in the night sky less conspicuous, and we were walking on this unfamiliar and familiar city road. The night breeze caressed, the few pedestrians on the road were whispering, and we just walked silently…

On the lonely road, if there is someone to accompany you, maybe you can find something? It’s like when you look up, the bright moon is still hanging there quietly.

With hands on chest, passion travels through the world of indifference.

We are finally able to meet here, don’t let fear become the distance of each other’s embrace.

I want to tell you the courage to exist, our world is so beautiful, don’t refuse.

——Zhang Huimei “Love is the only”

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