"Do you know of any other Nannies?"

When our son was still an infant, I worked as a Proposal Manager for PwC Consulting, then a division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. I was based in our Madison Avenue office and was no stranger to pulling 36-48 hour marathons to wrap up the proposals I led. During one of those marathon sessions, Donna brought Hunter to the office and we spent some time together during one of my breaks.

Now, it's important to set the stage and let you know that the office was home to many partners in the firm that I had not worked with, so they had no idea that the dynamic Trinidadian woman I walked to the elevator with our son was my Domestic Partner (remember, this was in 2002, prior to NJ's Civil Union legislation). As I walked Donna out, I kissed her and Hunter goodbye near the elevators. A partner in the firm joined them in the elevator as they left.

Clearly the man must have missed our kiss, because Donna told me that he smiled at her and asked "Do you know of any other Nannies?" She looked at him confused and asked, "Why would I?" He looked surprised and pointed at our son, whose complexion was more like my Caucasian skin, and said, "I thought you would know of other nannies, because my wife and I are looking for someone."

It dawned on Donna that this guy thought she was Hunter's Nanny! Very proudly she answered, "He's my son." As the partner turned a whiter shade of pale, he sputtered an apology and got off on the next floor.

Fast forward nine years and we have been living less than 30 minutes from Manhattan for a number of years now and love the diversity that surrounds us. I never even think about Donna's race being different from mine until we are reminded by incidents such as the one in the elevator.

Although I think we as a nation have come a long way celebrating diversity and understanding that families come in all different configurations, we still have a long way to go before some people stop assuming that Donna is our children's Nanny.  Hunter is a gorgeous boy with long, curly chestnut brown hair and big blue eyes and Skye is a stunning blond with ice blue eyes. Donna is a beautiful Trini with coffee colored skin and dark brown eyes. She loves it when the kids call her Mommy in public and often won't answer the first time Hunter or Skye call for her attention because she wants to teach people a lesson.

We are a proud family and although some strangers may be confused by the relationship we have to our children, our children are clear that they have two parents who adore them. What people learn as they get to know us better is that we share more in common with them than may appear on the surface . And that realization becomes a shared blessing for us all.