The Nonbinary Notebook

The One with the Letters

February 14, 2016

9:08 PM

I want to remember every detail of today.

I woke up at my Nana's, ate some cereal, rushed out the door, and headed to a parade. We got some Starbucks and then got in formation. I had the chestnut praline frap.

I was dressed up as a marching band person. I saw my middle school history teacher there. We marched and I twirled a baton and the parade lasted for a lot less time than I thought it would. Then we tried to leave but the roads were all closed, so we went to Capone's for lunch/dinner. We had margherrita pizza (I think that's how you spell it). They brought us an Italiano on accident though, so we got a free bruschetta. Our waiter looked like Kevin Gnapoor. I had an iced tea. We went to the docks and got some beautiful pictures. Then we finally went home.

I texted Cici the coming out letter I had been working on to send my mom and he liked it. (That's the right name and pronouns now, I promise.) So I made three drafts. One for Mom, one for Dad, one for all my friends. I emailed the first one to my mom. I made Madi hit send because I was too nervous. Then I sent the dad version. I didn't need Madi this time. Then I sent the friend version in an Instagram group chat. The response was overwhelmingly positive from all my friends and my mom. My dad said he was just worried he was going to slip up. I reassured him that that's fine.

I took a really long shower.

I got into pajamas and then called my dads girlfriend, "Sam", back. And there it was: my first encounter with The Dreaded They/Them Grammar Question. Yikes. Sam is an English teacher too, so double yikes. But it's ok. I explained the thing about how if you don't know somebody's gender you automatically say "they". She seemed skeptical but I think it'll work out.

Anyway, I think I'm going to order a binder tomorrow. I included it in my letter to Mom, and she said that she would get whatever I need and she also said that the fact that I thought she might not accept me was, and I quote, "bullshit".

Three letters. Twenty four hours. One conclusion:

I am here, I am queer, and now everybody knows it.