Fandoms are Family (Happy Mother's Day!)

I don't know how many of you (if any) reading this are mothers, but I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't say something about Mother's Day today. Today's post isn't just about mothers, it's really about families in general.

Earlier, I wrote a post about what a fandom is. In that post, I said that a fandom is a placed filled with "people who care about you" and "understand and accept your craziness". And since writing it, I realized, that's kind of what a family is too. A fandom is like your second family.

Just like a family, a fandom is a place where you can be yourself without fear of rejection. When you're crying over the loss of your favorite character, thousands of others are out there, feeling the same thing. And you can get together and console each other. Even when nothing interesting is happening (e.g., the show's on hiatus), the fandom will still be there. You can still support each other. Fandoms may be quite specific, but they get you through the tough times.

And a fandom is like a (huge) group of friends. You have your own inside jokes (i.e., fandom references), and you laugh at the tiniest things. To others, you might seem strange, but you don't care. You'll stick up for each other, and you're always ready to have fun.

Of course, a fandom isn't perfect. After all, just because somebody gets you through your struggles when things go wrong in a story doesn't mean they're going to help you when things go wrong in real life. That's where family comes in. I owe a lot to my family, especially my mom. That's why I'm writing this post ahead of time, so I can spend the morning¹ making her breakfast. And then I can spend the rest of the day thanking her for all the times she's been there for me, and all the books she's bought for me, all the movies she's taken me to see... the list goes on.

But the best bit about all of this is that you can have a family and a fandom! If a family is an ice cream sundae, a fandom is the cherry on the top. Because belonging to a fandom is sweet.

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1 That's tomorrow morning for me. Today's morning for you. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.^↩