Seems like life has gotten away from me and it’s been months since I’ve posted. I don’t think I’m the only person this has happened to, or at least I hope I’m not alone.
Since my last post, we had a kid graduate high school and start college. One kid stepped back into the family (she lives with her dad) had some great times, hit some rough patches, and stepped back out for now.
Then there’s the youngest in the family.
At 14 years old (15 this year) they had the wherewithal to reflect and accept that they’re different. Different in that they were born in the wrong body; that’s right the kid we brought up as a son is actually a daughter. She let us know in April that she would like to be called Sophia and she’s a she. Some parents would panic, and I’ll admit I panicked a little. Not because of that, but because I wasn’t sure what I was suppose to do. But you know, we’ve made sure our lines of communication stay open and we’ve been tackling things together. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s easy because it’s not. My timeline of her transition is light years ahead of what she’s got in mind, so I had to slow my roll a bit. I appreciate that she’s taking things in her own time, moving on when she’s comfortable and staying in place until she is.
I can’t say things have been that way for the whole family though, her dad is struggling and admittedly they’re both struggling with communication at the time. But what am I gonna do? I can’t force them to talk to each other, I’m not gonna lock them in a room and keep them there until they have a mutual understanding of each other. They are both in counseling (albeit separately) and maybe one day they’ll come back together. For now that’s all I can do.
Regarding the wife and I, she’s working crazy hours and I’m doing my best to keep her afloat. Ha! Like she was doing a horrible job before I came along! She wasn’t, she was doing just fine. But this is my job now, and I fully intend to do my job to the best of my abilities!
If I had any wisdom to impart at this point, I think I would just remind everyone that we’re all doing our best right now. Things are never going to be like they were two years ago before COVID hit. We will never have a “new normal” so we just gotta deal with what comes at us as we go!
Cheers!
