I apologize for taking so long getting this post up. It was a busy weekend. I got to my house on Thursday night. Friday I went out looking for a winter coat, because it's starting to get pretty cold outside. When my parents came home from work later that night, I told them I had been looking for a coat. I had found one I liked. My mom asked me where I found it. I told her it was at Express. My mom was shocked to hear that I wanted a girl's coat. She asked me why, and I told her that it was because I wanted to get something that would last me longer than six months, and if I got a guy's coat, I wouldn't wear it after then. She didn't understand, and I explained that I have decided to start hormone replacement therapy and eventually transition. They were a little upset by it, but surprisingly, not that bad. They took it pretty well. My mother said to me "Well, we can't live your life for you." That comment in itself made me very happy. I had my parents support. We talked about it for a little bit before we left to go out to eat. It was, of course, the conversation of the entire evening. We discussed it on the way there and while we were eating. Afterwards, we went out to shop for stuff, including my winter coat. They bought it for me, which really surprised me yet again.

Saturday, things changed. My mother told me she didn't think I thought through my decision enough. She thinks I haven't thought about losing my ability to have children. She doesn't realize how long this has been brewing in my head. I've been thinking about transitioning since I was little. I've thought about everything you could possibly think about involving it. Well....maybe not everything, but I definitely have thought about having children. We ended up getting into a big fight. I never realized how stereotypically minded my mother is. She made some pretty nasty stereotypical comments about alternative lifestyles. I made sure to set her straight on those....no pun intended. I have this problem when I get into arguments. I have "old man" syndrome when I get frustrated and angry. I think my mind goes "Maybe she didn't hear me the first time....I'll say it louder." So I end up yelling, and my mother mocks me while I am yelling. That makes me all the more frustrated an angry. I'm sure you can see the circle going on here. I usually end up storming off, which is what I did in this instance. It just never ceases to amaze me that I've presented my mother and father with the facts so many times, yet it seems like they don't hear them. I think they just choose not to believe them, because they don't want to accept what is happening in their family as real.

After storming off, I was on the verge of tears and needed to find somewhere to go. I ended up driving to the movie theater I work at back at home. I hid in the office with the manager, who is one of my supportive friends. I held back the tears as much as I could, but some of them couldn't be held back. Had I not had some control, I probably would have been bawling for a while. Thankfully, I avoided that. My friend and I talked through things, and I calmed down and felt better. After a while, I went back home. My mom and I got into another discussion. This time, I told myself I wouldn't yell, and I would remain calm. It was hard, but I managed it. It ended up being a heated discussion, but it was better than an argument. Sometimes I felt like I was getting through to her, but sometimes not. Talking through a generation gap doesn't work that well.

Eventually I had to go to work, which was back at the movie theater. A lot of people go to movies on a Saturday night. I was working in the vending stand. I have the benefit of being friends with every employee at that theater. Most of them know about my gender issues, and all of them are supportive. So, I usually don't have to worry about much at my job, but I still have customers to deal with. Often times younger kids will snicker and laugh. Many times I get gay comments, including that night. As I was walking through the lobby of the theater, some kid walks past me and says "Hi Guys" with a heavy stereotypical gay lisp. I just turned around and gave him a dirty look. I wanted to say something, but I also want to keep my job. So I refrained. That's not the bad kind of comments I get though. Some adults can be very rude. I had one family buying food. The father says "Whoa, what happened to your nails?" I made some stupid joke to hopefully keep him from asking anymore questions, but he persisted. He then said "Are you wearing pumps?" and looked over the counter. I told him no. He then asked me if I did it for Halloween. I very shortly said "No, that'll be $13.50." That surprised him a bit, but yet he still persisted. He asked the girl on the register next to me what color her nails were. She didn't have hers painted and told him she's lazy. Finally, they left. You'd think people would have more courtesy than that, but alas, they do not.

Sunday was yet another switch. My mother went from argumentative to questioning and accepting. She took me shopping. I still needed a winter coat, because the one from Express was just too small. She helped me look through the women's coats at a different store. Eventually I got one that was what I wanted. It was purple too, my favorite color. I got a scarf, gloves, and a headband as well. Then, she surprised me yet again. We went into the girls clothing section and I picked out stuff I wanted. She actually bought me clothes. I couldn't believe it. There was some stuff that was lower cut, and she said that I should wait with that until I've transitioned and have a bust line. She was even offering me advice. I was truly amazed.

I left to go back to school. I picked up my best friend, and we drove together. We stopped off in a town to visit yet another best friend of mine and we had dinner. I wish I could spend more time with my best friends. On the rest of the way up, we talked a lot about how life has been to us. When we were about twenty minutes away from school, we looked to the northeastern skies and saw the most beautiful display of the Northern Lights that I have ever witnessed. It was like the images you see in National Geographic magazines. They looked like a moving curtain of colors, shimmering across the sky. It was awe inspiring. As we continued to drive home, we saw a couple deer; a Doe and her fawn. It was a very fitting end to an interesting weekend.

Sorry this was so long. I'll try to keep it a little shorter next time. I hope you enjoyed it.

Luv,

Jessica