On International Family Day on May 15th, LILLYDOO wants to celebrate family—because family is one of the most beautiful and important pillars in life. But not all families are the same, and that's a good thing! Five families—representing the enriching diversity of families that exist—have given us insight into their lives. We’re excited to share their fascinating and deeply personal stories with you here. Maybe you’ll see yourself and your family reflected in one or two places. But even if your family looks very different, it surely brings that extra dose of happiness and love into your life, too.

This time: Daniela, 36, and her wife live near Hamburg with their two-and-a-half-year-old son and their dog. From there, Daniela also runs her blog. In our article, she shares her colorful family life under the rainbow.

Hi! I’m Daniela, and I live with my wife, our son, and his dog sister near Hamburg. When LILLYDOO asked me whether I wanted to be part of this series, I immediately agreed. I’m very happy to share our family life on behalf of the many rainbow families in Germany.

When my wife and I met almost 15 years ago, one thing was immediately clear to us: we wanted to grow old together—with everything that comes with it. With each passing day, our dreams have come true. On countless trips, I was able to show my wife my home country, Brazil. We celebrated the registration of our civil partnership with a lively party. Our little Boxer dog, Emmy, joined us and turned our lives upside down. But none of that compares to the happiness that came our way in 2015: becoming mothers to a wonderful little man.

Since then, we’ve been Mama and Mamãe. Our little one is being raised bilingually—during the day I speak Portuguese with him, while my wife speaks German with him after work. He understands both languages equally well, even if sometimes he pretends to be deaf in one ear. ;-)

Everyday life: spontaneity instead of structure

Our everyday life is colorful—others would probably call it chaotic. :) We’ve never been particularly well organized, and our little one has completely scrambled what little order there was. And now he’s in charge. He leads the way, and we follow—we spend a lot of time outdoors in nature, go to the sea as often as we can, and rediscover the world together with him. Unfortunately, the time when you rush from one appointment to the next comes early enough. That’s why we try to live as much as possible in the here and now and to make plenty of time for each other. A typical day with my family looks like this: In the mornings, we take our time over a delicious breakfast, usually with waffles or pancakes. Then we head into the woods to throw sticks and clear our minds from the week. At the moment, our little one can’t quite decide whether he still wants to take his nap or not, so we base our afternoon plans on that. We usually decide quite spontaneously whether to visit friends, have them come over, or—if it fits—drive to the North Sea on a whim. In the evening, when our little one goes to bed, we simply enjoy the quiet and the time we have for each other—often by lying down together and falling asleep immediately. :)

I can’t even imagine what it would be like to spend a day without my family. We chose this life from day one and made career decisions that allow us plenty of family time—even before we had children or a dog. We don’t go on vacation; that way, we always have the dog with us. I recently extended my parental leave so I can watch our little one grow up.

I used to love listening to loud music most of all; today, our little one’s laughter can’t be loud enough. We often think about having more children, but unfortunately, that isn’t something a rainbow family can do spontaneously. Because we are living in a and not in a marriage, many doors are closed to us, such as the coverage of by health insurance or the possibility of adopting a child together (currently, this is only possible sequentially). Anyone who thinks the biggest bureaucratic hurdles are over after the birth of a child is mistaken. The time afterward can strain a family’s nerves just as much: it is followed by the often lengthy process of stepparent adoption, which we were fortunately able to complete and about which I have written extensively on my blog.

The hope that "unusual" will become "usual"

At least we encounter only respect and tolerance from those around us. From that, we draw courage and strength to face the adversities that may still lie ahead on our path.

For the future, I hope that the many different family constellations will shape our image of family even more—on the streets, in advertising, in the big city, and in the village. In short: the family next door, which doesn’t require any special label. I hope that politics will stop making laws worse through amendments and that genuine equality will finally be achieved—equality that is lived, not just an empty phrase. So that the rainbow can continue to shine in its most beautiful colors.