Robert Finley

He was the seventh son in a row of six sons who all had the same mother and the same father.  He, however, did not.  He was the love child of a relationship that had absolutely no love at all.  It was two people who passed each other at a truck stop and then hoped to never see each other again.  His father was married and his mother was promised marriage.  In due season, mother left to become a preacher's wife and father went back to his own.  Robert was left in the middle of twelve children with no claim to either side.  How can you distinguish yourself from the situation you would always be associated with?  Everyone was always trying to explain Robert.  They tried to tell him that his parents loved him, but it wasn't the right time.  They tried telling him that they loved him but did not know how to love him.   They tried to explain how he was black but yet white.  They tried to explain that he was a Finely but would never be allowed to attend the family reunion.  They explained that he was a Baptiste, but would be best off staying away from Louisiana.  There was so much in his life that had to be explained.  Even in the mirror, he saw white skin with black lips and curly hair with grey eyes.  He couldn't explain it.  All he could think was that he occupied a position of uniqueness that one day would not even matter, but for now, he would have to get used to occupying this space alone.  Robert stopped trying to define himself, because God already did that.  He did not fit into the round hole and then again, he wasn't a square peg.  The place that he fit, was just that.  He did not fit and that is where he fit in.  He was an outlier.  His features had no home and his ways had no country.  Robert knew this.  He understood that to become who he wanted to become, he would first have to accept that he had to create his own space and ...............................he did.