Well, things keep on changing. After all, change is the only certainty in life, right? My new position at work is going well. I've gotten bankruptcy proceedings underway, which I had planned to do last spring but the courts were shut down. It's expensive to declare bankruptcy; my only incentive is to hopefully make it possible for us to rent somewhere else in the not-too-distant future, since a bankruptcy should look better on an application than a slew of outstanding debt. We finally have some money in savings in case of car repairs or a broken phone, and that is such a great feeling.
Whiz Kid surprised me a few months ago by saying they would like to move, and would be willing to help with household expenses if that matters (it does). Most of their friends in the high school are older, and either graduated last spring or will be graduating this spring. Thanks to the pandemic, they haven't been able to form new relationships in the district, but have formed several online in other districts in the county. They also told me they are non-binary. That came as a bit of a shock, and right on the heels of the Princess informing me that she had told Grandma (my mother) she's gay. Oh, goody.
She's been saying for a while now that she's gay, but that isn't something I have to deal with yet in terms of visible lifestyle. She's got a few years left before dating age and I hope to be far away from my parents by then. But Whiz Kid's revelation really knocked me sideways. They told me a few years ago they are bisexual, but again that wasn't something I needed to worry about in terms of family opinion right now. It also wasn't something I saw as affecting their future in any negative way. But this is different, and apparently it's something they've known for aa while but didn't know how to explain it. Now they've met a few other kids who identify outside of standard gender definitions, and they finally have words for it.
I decided to join the local chapter of PFLAG. I'll need support, and hey, I'm already the wayward daughter who has "rejected the Scriptures" according to my dad because my kids don't receive proper discipline (which can only be done with a rod, Solomon says so and he was the wisest man); they are allowed to say "no" and have choices and spend too much time online and go to public school to be indoctrinated as socialist liberal terrorists, etc. And they already think Bear's long hair is inappropriate and that I should force him to cut it. (No way - his hair is awesome an he looks like a chubby, light-skinned Aquaman without a beard, lol.) So I'm sure this will just be all kinds of fun to deal with.
I've made other plans for Memorial Day.
Meanwhile I've also been getting involved with a local organization for "other" spiritual enlightenment. I first went there when I needed a safe place to talk about what was going on with the Princess, where I wouldn't be looked at sideways, or hushed up quickly with interruptions of hugs and promises of prayer and a swift, decisive change of subject. I found exactly what I was looking for and more. Last month I was elected to the Board, which basically means I need to help come up with ways to keep the organization afloat post-pandemic. I'm very excited. I finally have a place where I really feel I belong. And I hope, so much, that I will soon be able to give my kids the same. One way or another, we have to get out of here.
