If those people can't accept you for who you are then it's best to cut them out of your life. Don't let hate cloud your happiness

That is easy to do with random people you meet on the street. If someone just can't handle it, I try not to annoy them too much for as long as the occasion requires, then go separate ways. It isn't their fault that they feel that way, and I can always go on and find other friends. But you can't really buy a new mom or a new dad on amazon if you don't get along with the ones you have. Thats why drama like that within the family or among close friends is always much harder. You just can't easily walk away from it if the people involved have a special place in your heart that noone else can fill.

And if you can? Also there are people who can be a father and or mother to you and they aren't related by blood.

I certainly feel closer to some of my furry friends and the fandom in general than I do my biological family (or have felt for a very long time). Even though finding the fandom arguably made me drift even further away from my family than before, it has given me the strength not to let familiary differences get in the way of my personal development and build my own life and my own relationships. Yet I still find the situation deeply sad, and I don't feel anyone else I could possibly meet can make up for that. All I have is the hope that one day we all will have the strength and opportunity to come back together as a family.

So far I've probably gotten off easy because my family is small and I've moved out a few years ago. They don't even know half of me. But we've had our clashes before, and really bad ones too. Now every time I stay with them, it feels weird and creepy after a few days that I can't be myself even around people I otherwise love and trust. Outside my family circles, I try to be open about my weirdnesses from the start to avoid any awkward situations. A friendship that is based on a lie wouldn't mean anything to me. Yet it still feels painful to just sit there at conventions of the normality fandom, being unable to relate to anyone around me and going along with all the strange social conventions.

One thing that the furry fandom showed me over and over again is that my problems, however strange and awkward they may feel, are rarely unique. Thousands of furries around the world can relate to that topic, and I'd wager a lot of non-furs as well. Just that the non-furs usually don't talk about it.. Going against established social norms is considered inappropriate so many silently try to find fault with themselves or hide never realizing that they are not alone. And the person across the table might just feel exactly the same way, but would never admit it.

Being who I am has shut me out of the culture that surrounds me, but it has opened the door to a new world full of magic, compassion and understanding. Furry has been the most profound positive influence in my entire life. It turned me from a stereotypical and depressed basement geek into a happy, socially curious, self-accepting fuzzy furry with more perspective in life than ever before. Now I am free to choose my own culture and I know, no matter what happens, there will always be countless thousands of people who will happily accept me the way I am.