It was July 2011 when I decided that I never wanted to make the drive back to Texas from California again. I was sobbing, driving back from San Diego - from volunteering at an off-site event during San Diego Comic-Con where I’d met and spent an incredible weekend with so many people that finally understood me. That celebrated my passions, rather than put them down. That weekend I made friends that I still have to this day, and I felt so authentically myself for the first time