Thursday, October 29, 2009

Shhh . . . be vewy vewy quiet – I’m hunting twannies

Current mood:okay
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This weeks trip was to Indianapolis, a place I once traveled to quite often but haven’t visited in a year or so. I had a little trouble trying to decide if I should go in male or female mode as these days it seems that I just can’t win. If I go in boy mode I end up feeling depressed every time I see a woman in a cute outfit. If I go female, I seem to often feel unattractive and unpassable these days. Ultimately I chose to go female in the hopes that I would enjoy it.

Indianapolis 2009 10 26 001
.. ..
Going through airport security in Austin, the TSA inspector took my ID and ticket and smiled up at me.
“Well, we haven’t seen you in a while.” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I guess that means I’m not doing my job then,” I replied with a shrug and a laugh.
I have sort of mixed feelings about the fact that many of the airline and TSA folks in Austin have become so familiar with me. It’s kind of an odd thought that given the thousands of people they deal with every day, day after day, week after week, these folks recognize me. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but it again makes it pretty clear that I haven’t been fooling anyone. Let’s face it, if you deal with that many people, you don’t remember an average run-of-the-mill woman, but you DO remember a CD or TS.
.. ..
The trip got off to a rough start when my American Airlines flight from Austin to DFW was delayed, then delayed again, and so I literally went right from the one plane to boarding the other. As we were getting off the plane from Austin, I was talking to the lady across the isle from me, about what our odds were of making or connections, as we both had flights that were already boarding.
.. ..
“Well, we might just make it of we run like hell.” she said to me. Then she looked at my skirt and heels. “Well, I’ll be running anyway – I kind of doubt you will!” she said with a grin.
.. ..
I did just barely make the connection, and so it was no great surprise to me when I discovered in Indianapolis that my baggage had not. This is one of those “been there and done that” things for me and so I didn’t get particularly upset or worked up about it, I just went to the baggage office and filled out all of the forms. The American Airlines CSA behind the counter was perfectly professional and even friendly, but kept calling me “Sir”. I’ve “been there done that” too, and so didn’t let it offend me. How can I really get upset about that sort of thing when I AM male after all? I honestly don’t think a lot of people know what the proper term of address is when speaking to a TG, and so as long as they are polite I will accept either without getting irritated. I have dealt with people before that called me “sir” with the clear and obvious intent of jabbing me, and that does get under my skin, but this woman seemed to be honestly friendly and I doubted that this was the case. I considered suggesting to her that it would be polite to refer to a MTF TG as female, but frankly didn’t want to risk irritating the person responsible for locating my missing baggage and getting it to me. That’s kind of like sending a steak back to the chef over and over – you are running the risk of having something nasty returned to you.
.. ..
Soon I’m off looking for my rental car and discover that the Indianapolis airport has changed a LOT since the last time I was here. Either it’s a whole new airport, or at least a new terminal, and so I have no idea how to find my way around what was once a very familiar place. Of course an airport is an airport, and I have lots of experience with them, and so I found the rental car lot in short order, and am on my way to my hotel. I’ve stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express in Indy for years. It’s not in one of the nicer parts of town, but the staff there are simply wonderful. Over a year ago I made friends with two of the young ladies behind the counter, and had become very fond of greeting friendly people when I arrived tired from traveling. It was nice to walk in the door and have an adorable young woman greet you with a sincere smile “Hey Kim, welcome back!”  I was looking forward to seeing them and so was surprised when I got out my itinerary and discovered that the lady that makes my travel arrangements had booked me in another hotel. I briefly considered ignoring that reservation and just going to my usual hotel, but with the economy the way it is, and so many people at my company loosing their jobs, I decide it’s not worth the risk, and so continue on to the hotel she had reserved for me. When I entered, the young lady behind the counter was a bit surprised, but not shocked. I’ve seen the whole gambit of reactions when checking in to hotels – huge grins, surprised looks, frowns, confusion, and very rarely even thinly veiled disapproval. This young lady was somewhere in the middle of that – not a single smile, but no real hostility either. I explained to her that my baggage was lost by the airline, was to arrive in Indy at around 7PM, and should be delivered shortly after that, and she assured me it would be no problem and that she would call me when it arrived. I was here to do an install of new equipment and probably wouldn’t need the tools unless something went wrong, but not having any males clothes was definitely going to be a problem!

Indianapolis 2009 10 26 011
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I figured I’d head out to dinner at English Ivy to kill the time while I waited for my bags to be delivered. Nothing really remarkable happened, though I’d once again repeat my endorsement for English Ivy. The food and service are outstanding there, and it’s a very open and accepting environment. If you ever visit Indy, I strongly recommend the place.
By the time I got back to the hotel, it was around 9PM, and even though I’d been told they would be there by 8, there was still no sign of my bags.
.. ..
At 10PM I decided I couldn’t afford to risk not having male clothes for tomorrows work day, and so headed out looking for a Walmart or Target, and succeeded in finding a Walmart that was open 24 hours a day. You know I’ve shopped in plenty of stores like this as Kim, but only in the day time when things were crowded. I really don’t recommend shopping in one so late at night with so few people there, as you tend to stand out and draw a good deal more attention. Entering the men’s department I rounded an isle and almost collided with a young man in his early 20’s or late teens. The shocked look on his face made it pretty clear that he had quickly figured out what I was, but at this point I’d been up and running for about 16 hours and no longer cared what anyone thought of me, so I moved past and kept shopping. First I looked for a cheap pair of tennis shoes, and while looking at my options I realized the young man had followed me and was standing less than 10 feet away from me. Shortly I moved on to find socks, and again I see the young man has followed me, and is sneaking looks at me. Next I moved on to find underwear, this time paying attention to what this guy does, and am hardly surprised when he again follows me, and then continues to trail me as I move on to jeans. I have no idea why, maybe it was because I was tired and punchy, maybe it’s just my warped sense of humor, but suddenly I have this picture of the kid as Elmer Fudd.
“Shhh  . . . be vewy vewy quiet, I’m hunting twannies!”
With this cute thought in my head, I proceed to the check out and back to the hotel. When I get there, I discover that the kid must have rattled me worse than I had thought, because the jeans are two inches shorter than my size, and the boxers are 2X and are so huge that they will not stay up on me.
.. ..
Good news – my tool box has been delivered. Bad news – my clothes were not. I called the airline to make sure they knew that they had only delivered one of my two bags and the guy wanted to argue with me.
“I’m sorry sir, but our records show that the front desk signed for BOTH bags.” He tells me smugly. It’s almost 11PM,  fully 4 hours after my bags had arrived at the airport, I still don’t have my things even though I’m only 10 miles from the airport, and I just spent $70 to buy an outfit. I’m not a happy camper, and I let him know this after the third time he tells me that both of my bags had been delivered.
“Look, I don’t give a shit what the front desk signed for, your guys screwed up and only left the one bag. You need to contact him, let him know he’s still got one of my bags, and get it delivered.” I told him, still reasonably calm, but definitely getting close to my limit. Over an hour later, my clothes are indeed found and delivered.
I’ve considered carrying a change of clothes with me as a carry on, but this happens so rarely I just don’t think it’s worth it. You have to understand that I am already fully loaded down with stuff when I travel and so carrying an entire set of clothing on with me is not as practical as you might think. I already travel with a rolling tool box, a huge suitcase because I’ve gotta carry enough clothes for two people, and a heavy laptop backpack filled with cables, chargers, notebooks, etc. I can’t take another bag with me, and there isn’t enough room in my backpack, so I guess this is the price I pay for traveling the way I do.
.. ..
The following day I headed down to Indiana University where I was installing a Mass Spec and training their professor on it’s software and use. If you ever want to feel old, just go visit a university. All those young, fresh faced, bright eyed and bushy tailed students scurrying around like ants, can make you feel obsolete in a hurry. I couldn’t care less about the young men, but I tend to obsess about the young ladies, flawless in almost every way. Perfect figures, perfect hair, perfect skin, getting a perfect education before moving on to their perfect careers and lives. The install and training went fairly well but took us fairly late in to the evening, and so by the time I got back to Indy I was tired and in no mood for going anywhere.
.. ..
Indianapolis 2009 10 28 011
Indianapolis 2009 10 28 013

My last full day in the Indy area, the training went well and was completed fairly early, and so I had most of the afternoon to play around. I started off by seeing “The Time Travelers Wife” at the theater. It was a small discount theater and one lady sold the tickets and also the concessions. She was genuinely friendly and pleasant, and soon I was sitting there slurping coke and stuffing M & M’s in my mouth. The movie was really quite good, though more than a little depressing. They spend very little, if any, time dwelling on the science or “wow” factor of the time traveling, and instead focus on the personal and relationship consequences that would arise if you were forced to travel through time over and over, with no means of controlling when you leave, or where you go. It was a good movie and I do recommend seeing it, but don’t get it if your hoping for a Science Fiction. Next I headed out to go shopping, and started off at a shiny new Goodwill where I found a adorable little light purple skirt and a top that matched it. Both had the department store tags still on them, so I walked out with about $50 worth of new clothes for only $9. As I was browsing through the skirts, a woman was looking at the same rack, and noticed my long floaty skirt.
“That skirt is SO cute!” she said with a smile. “My mother likes those long fluffy skirts too. You didn’t see one like that in black did you?”
“I saw lots of black skirts, but nothing along these lines.” I replied. “Yeah, you either love these skirts or you hate them. It’s not much to look at when standing still, but it’s gorgeous when you walk!” I told her, while tugging mine out and waving it around a little to show her what I meant. As I was leaving the store, I walked past a short woman in her mid 50’s or maybe early 60’s and the look on her face was priceless – straight out of a comedy. She literally stared at me, with her eyebrows raised and a “What the hell?” look on her face the entire time I approached her, turning to continue staring at me as I walked by her. I just smiled and kept going, and as I approached my car I saw her and her husband walking to their car, and both were staring at me. I’m guessing I gave them something to talk about for a day or two.
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I noticed a Burlington Coat Factory across the street and headed over there to shop a little. They often have nice things for low prices, and I actually want to find a somewhat lighter female coat than the one I have. I have a great wool coat, very cute, and very classy, but it’s also very heavy, and when your carrying the luggage, the weight does get to be a problem. I failed to find a coat that I liked that was any lighter than the one I have, but as I was shopping, the same woman from the Goodwill walked up to me waving a floaty black skirt back and forth.
“Hey, a found one!” she tells me, clearly delighted with her treasure.
“Awesome – good for you!” I replied. We chatted about nothing for a minute or two and then went our own ways. I found a real cute pink top with a complex pattern and carried it around for a bit before deciding it was a little too “busy” and put it back on the rack. From a row or two over, I hear my new shopping friend.
“You’ll be sorry!” she says, with a laugh in her voice.
“Yeah, probably,” I answered with a laugh “But it’s too busy I think.” I see her glance at my skirt, which is more than a little complex, and we both start to laugh.
“Oh no, I like busy skirts, but not so much when it comes to tops!” I explained.
.. ..
Finally I made my way to the Castleton Square Mall and entered Macy’s – one of my favorite department stores. I raided the shoes, but found nothing I couldn’t live with out, and so browsed through the mall for a little while. Eventually it was time to head for English Ivy where I was to meet my friend Gina for dinner. We had a pleasant dinner and caught up on what had been happening in each others lives for the past year, I guess I’ve known Gina for three of four years now, but it just doesn’t seem that long. After dinner we went to the Metro where Gina had agreed to meet with Ashley, another Tgirl that was visiting Indy. We sat around talking for a bit, but once the music started it was pretty hard to hear each other. Ashley it seems, also travels quite a lot, and so we compared notes on the places we had both been.

Indianapolis 2009 10 28 021
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Thursday morning I knew I was in trouble when I got an automated call from American Airlines as I was still driving to the airport. Seems my flight home has been delayed a couple of hours due to bad weather in DFW. All checked in and sitting at my gate for a flight that wont leave for another 4 hours when I hear an announcement two gates down stating that their flight to DFW has a few open seats, and if anyone traveling there would care to go early, they may be able to take you. Now instead of leaving two hours after I was supposed to, I am leaving over an hour early. Alas, the joke is on me though, because I wrote this while on that very flight, and the DFW airport has been closed. My early flight to DFW has just been rerouted to San Antonio. That’s all right though, because even if my wife has to drive a couple of hours to come pick me up, I know that I will have no trouble getting to Austin. My luggage on the other hand . . .

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Been to Chicago but not much to write about

Well, after sitting idle at my office for two weeks I finally hit the road again last week for a trip to Chicago. I've heard a lot of hype about new TSA regulations that went in to effect recently where the name on your itinerary must mach your ID precisely and they are now recording your gender. I didn't think this would affect me at all and I was right. It was just business as usual and I sailed through security. The thing is, from the moment I started getting ready I just felt . . . ugly . . .


Chicago 2009 10 22 001

Chicago 2009 10 22 003


I went through with it though, and headed out for the airport, all the while hoping that the feeling would go away and I would start to enjoy myself. As I said, I made it through the check in and security screening with no problem at all and was soon sitting on an airplane. Shortly after I found my seat and got comfortable, a guy in his 30's walked past me, looked at the woman sitting across the isle from me.
"This flying business is oh so glamorous isn't it?" he said with a huge smile and to the laughter of everyone around us, including myself. I arrived in Chicago at around noon to find my voice mail AND email full of messages. In a remarkably rare and convenient turn of events, another customer right in the same area just received his instrument back from our repair center, it didn't work, and the customer is mad as hell - tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. I got to the hotel and after one look in the mirror, and decided I was done for the day. The following day was long and stressful, but I was successful in addressing both issues and being back to the hotel by about four in the afternoon. It's a Friday night in Chicago, I'm free to do as I please, and yet I just couldn't dredge up the want, interest, or desire to hit the world as Kimberly.

Same stuff, different day!

Thank you every one for your good wishes and prayers. I spent most of the afternoon with my wife, and nothing has changed. They are pumping her full of drugs to try and stop the contractions / labor, and also pumping antibiotics in to her. They kept her again tonight for observation, and again I had to leave her to take care of my daughter. :-( It feels so strange to be the one sitting at home and taking care of our daughter alone. I don't think I care for it! lol
They have not presented us with any long term plans yet, just trying to keep her from going in to full blown labor and keeping her under observation. No idea where we will be going with this . . .
As far as i know, my wife and the unborn critter are not in any serious danger. The worst likely outcome is that we have another premature baby and the complications that go with it for the first few weeks. I do not believe either of them are in any serious risk at the moment. They are of course monitoring the baby and he doesn't appear to be under any stress, so it's just a wait and see game for now.

Thanks again every one!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Been to Chicago but not much to write about

Well, after sitting idle at my office for two weeks I finally hit the road again last week for a trip to Chicago. I've heard a lot of hype about new TSA regulations that went in to effect recently where the name on your itinerary must mach your ID precisely and they are now recording your gender. I didn't think this would affect me at all and I was right. It was just business as usual and I sailed through security. The thing is, from the moment I started getting ready I just felt . . . ugly . . .

Chicago 2009 10 22 001

Chicago 2009 10 22 003


I went through with it though, and headed out for the airport, all the while hoping that the feeling would go away and I would start to enjoy myself. As I said, I made it through the check in and security screening with no problem at all and was soon sitting on an airplane. Shortly after I found my seat and got comfortable, a guy in his 30's walked past me, looked at the woman sitting across the isle from me.
"This flying business is oh so glamorous isn't it?" he said with a huge smile and to the laughter of everyone around us, including myself. I arrived in Chicago at around noon to find my voice mail AND email full of messages. In a remarkably rare and convenient turn of events, another customer right in the same area just received his instrument back from our repair center, it didn't work, and the customer is mad as hell - tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. I got to the hotel and after one look in the mirror, and decided I was done for the day. The following day was long and stressful, but I was successful in addressing both issues and being back to the hotel by about four in the afternoon. It's a Friday night in Chicago, I'm free to do as I please, and yet I just couldn't dredge up the want, interest, or desire to hit the world as Kimberly.

Apparently my baby is in a hurry!

Wow, I am SOOO tired. I'm tired because I haven't slept in a bit over 36 hours. I haven't slept in a bit over 36 hours because the little critter that has been growing in my wifes tummy is apparently in a hurry and trying to sneak up on his due date about two months early.

My wife is 33 weeks pregnant and has been having pre-term labor cramps for the last couple of days. Last night, shortly before going to bed, they started to come quite regularly, about 6 an hour. We called her OB GYN and they told us not to worry about and gave us some placebo advice. She toughed it out for a while, but when we climbed to over 8 contractions in an hour we both agreed it was time to head to the hospital.

The Doc says we did exactly the right thing and gave her a drug to stop the labor. 20 minutes after taking the last dose, her contractions started again, and through the following hours grew closer and closer together until around 330PM today they were coming only five minutes apart. She is not dilated so she is supposedly not ready to have the critter, but the Doc was honest with us that he can't explain the contractions, and so they have decided to keep her over night. They are also giving her a couple of steroid shots to speed up the baby's lung growth just in case they have to take him out early.

My son was born by emergency C section at 33 weeks and that was 20 years ago, so I'm fairly confident that if they do have to take this critter out at 32 weeks in this day and age, things will go well. I guess I'm nervous but not scared. In any case, they will not make that call for another 12 hours or so, so right now I am back at home with my 5 year old. As this is two months early, we had no one lined up to take care of my five year old, so I had to come back home to take care of her while my 20 year old son goes to work.

Either they convince the baby to wait (apparently someone forgot to inform the baby of the schedule) or else we are going to have another premature baby. I hate it when that happens. It's a horrible feeling seeing your little critter in an incubator with needles and tubes all over him. :-(
Yawn . . . Well, gotta go sit with my daughter for a while, get her a bath, and put her to bed. Then I can collapse until my son gets home at 10PM. Yawn . . .

Thursday, October 8, 2009

We are everywhere . . .


Yesterday I had something fascinating happen to me while on a service call south of Houston Texas. While at my customers office, I noticed a sicker on her door for an organization with in her company that supports Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender diversity. With out really thinking about it, I pointed at the sticker and told her I thought it was awesome that her company was supportive, and proud enough about it to be making stickers to advertise it. I would tell you what company, but I’m concerned it wouldn’t be right share any of her info. Well, you could see her hesitate while trying to decide if she should say anything, and ultimately she chose not to. That’s OK with me, I understand it is often a bad idea to mix business and personal lives, and perhaps she wasn’t comfortable with that. Later in the day, we were in her car driving to pick up some small parts, when we had a discussion about one of her cars – a very unusual, expensive, and very attention getting mean little machine. She mentioned getting stopped by a police man, who clearly just wanted a closer look at the machine, and she told me about his reaction to finding two women who were clearly a couple driving it. Mind you, this is a small town in southern Texas, so we had a good laugh about Good Ol’ Boys. Since she had opened the door to the conversation, I asked her if she and her mate had been fortunate enough to get married before coming to Texas, while it had been legal in California. You could see her hesitate while trying to decide how much of her life she was willing to share with me, but in a moment she started talking.
“We are married because of a loop hole, and it’s even legal in Texas.” She told me.
“No kidding?!” I replied. “If you don’t mind my asking, what’s the loop hole?”
“Well. . . . “ she again sort of hesitated. “We were married when she was a man.”
She so surprised me with this, that I swear I’m not exaggerating, my jaw actually dropped. I probably sat there looking like an idiot for an entire second or two before I realized it, and shortly after that, realized how it must have looked to her. It must have seemed to her as if she had shared something deeply personal, and I was either making a joke of it, or I was shocked at the very concept. Little did she know that my shock was the surprise of finally meeting a customer that I knew was part of the transgendered world. With all of the places I’ve traveled, and the hundreds of people I meet doing my job, I’ve always thought that someday I might have a customer who is TG. It never once struck me that it would be the spouse I met though, not the TG.
So there I sat, looking like an idiot with my jaw wide open, when it strikes me that my surprised look may have hurt or offended her, so I took the plunge to be sure she knew what was behind my surprise.
“Well, believe it or not, your wife and I have a lot in common.” I told her, feeling just a bit nervous that maybe it wasn’t wise to mix my personal life with my work, but I just couldn’t let her think I was offended or shocked at the concept of someone being transgender. She told me she had suspected that I might be. I don’t recall the details of most of the rest of our conversation, but it was pleasant. She told me a bit more about how she and her SO had come to be where they are in their lives, and I told her a little about my travels. At the end of the day, I felt like she was not just a customer, but might also be friend.
 
I’m telling you people, we (transgendered) are everywhere . . .

Monday, October 5, 2009

Much ado about nothing


Karen Karen



Last night was an interesting one for me, conversing via the internet with family members far away.

Somewhere way back at the start of this blog I’ve shared some of my early life so I don’t suppose I’ll rehash it all here and now, but I guess you have to know a little about it for this to make any sense.
 
My mother had been married at least once before her marriage to my father, and from that marriage she had two children – my big sister Karen, and my big brother Donny. My mothers marriage to my father didn’t last long at all, and they separated when I was somewhere around the age of one. Nah, don’t go offering condolences and all of that, because for me this was the normal way of things, and it was you people with both parents together in the house that were the freaks.
My father was a major alcoholic that liked to abuse his children and his wives, both physically and mentally, and so it was fortunate that with a few exceptions, I spent most of my young years with my mother, sister, and brother. Now the down side is, my mother went through marriages like most of us go through cars. Now that I think of it, I’d be pretty damned pleased if I could get a new car as often as she found new husbands. Don’t get me wrong, though I might question her judgment in marrying them in the first place, I’m not blaming my mother for the marriages coming to an end – most of these guys really were jerks or worse. I suppose the point is, I grew up seeing that the men in my life came and went, were generally less than honorable, and I had no desire to be anything at all like them. I have of course learned since that time that there are a good deal of decent men out there, but by then it was too late and  the damage was done . . .
The flip side of that is that most of the women in my life were strong personalities. My grandmother, who often had all of us living in her home, to include my cousins. She worked like a dog to provide for us when we needed it and that woman would literally storm through hell itself if that was what it took to take care of children. She was a formidable woman and I’m sure the devil himself would have backed down from a confrontation with her. I suppose her only major drawback as regards my life, is that due to her own life experiences, and what she had seen her daughters and grand daughters go through, she really appeared to hate men and she wasn’t at all shy about saying so. It was not at all unusual to have something set her off, and you would hear her mumbling “God damned no good for nothing men!” under her breath. Countless times she would shake her finger towards my brother and I “So help me God, if either of you boys hurts a girl, I’ll kill you!”
My mother, who struggled with serious health problems from birth, was strong in some of her own ways as well. Her doctors were constantly astounded that she had managed to walk for most of her life, despite their dire predictions that she would always require crutches and wheel chairs. My mother was very open minded, loved to learn, and despite her lack of a formal education, I’m fairly sure she would have qualified as a genius had she ever been tested. Ironic considering that much like myself, she did some remarkably stupid things for someone reasonably intelligent, but I suppose that’s for a different story.
Now we come to my sister, who despite the long winded text above was really the main point of this post. In many ways, my big sister was very similar to my grandmother – fairly opinionated and very strong willed. She was well known in our town, at least by those any where close to our own age. Though she might try and argue about it today, she was drop dead gorgeous, and I do mean heart stopping beautiful. When you combine that with a strong personality, who knew what she wanted, knew what she was and was not willing to accept, and who would most definitely get in your face if you got between her and her goal, she was a truly awesome force to behold. In a world where I was tossed back and forth from my mother to father, moving from school to school where I had little chance to develop friendships, my sister was always one of the few constant and stable things in my life. Always there, always taking care of me, always someone I was so very happy to have and hold.
When I joined the Army and was drunk, or depressed, or both, it was always my sister I called. Over and over she would listen to me and give me something to hold on to and for. When I couldn’t afford to fly home for Christmas, it was my sister that bought my flights, never asking me to repay her though I’m sure she couldn’t afford it any better than I could. When I got out of the army briefly, it was my sister that helped to get me a job. When I needed an apartment, it was my sister that made it possible. When ever I needed someone, my sister was there.
 
My sister is, and has always been, my biggest hero, and last night I told her what I am. My sister reacted as she always has – she loves me.
 
Here’s some irony for you. I’ve wanted to tell her for more than a year, but just felt that I had already burdened her with enough in my life and didn’t want to add any more to the load I’ve already placed on her. It wasn’t a question of trust, it was a question of whether I had the right to ease my own mind at the expense of placing a load on hers. None the less, the thought has haunted me to the point of obsession lately, with my stomach flip flopping every time I thought about it. Last night I discovered that all of that was for nothing because she has known for years. It seems that the very same mother that warned me that it would be a bad idea to tell my sister because her husband might not deal well with it, told my sister herself shortly after I’d told her. That was a lot of years of anguish and anxiety on my part for absolutely nothing.
 
Did I mention how cool my sister is?
 
OK, so now let’s back up a bit. You recall my mother and father separated? Well, my father also remarried and had more children, including another son – my half brother. Much later in life, well in to adulthood, he and I found each other and our families shared holidays with each other for years. Unfortunately his marriage came to and end in an ugly divorce, and his wife moved away with his daughter. Considering how I had grown up, I desperately tried to find them so I could keep in touch with his daughter, wanting her to know that she was not alone in the world and that someone out here loved her. I came close a couple of times through the years, but never managed to actually find her. Last night I found this young lady on facebook and we spoke for many hours.
She is now just short of 18 years old and has had a fairly hard life. Despite this, she has managed to approach graduation with a 4.0 average. She is beautiful, intelligent, well mannered, and with a positive attitude and spirit – all traits I think I’ve made it clear here that I admire. I am so deeply sorry that I failed to find her earlier in her life, as I think she has indeed thought no one on her fathers side of the family cared about her. I suppose that there is nothing to be done about that at this point, but I’ve found her now.
 
Did I mention that last night was an interesting one?