TBT to Jessica's transition

TBT to when Jessica transitioned. The whole Bruce Jenner thing has made me remember. As a reminder, she transitioned between kindergarten and first grade. When we went to school to meet with the principal before the school year started, Jess saw her wonderful kindergarten teacher, and she (Jess) ran and hid in our car, embarrassed that her teacher would see her as a girl. Shortly thereafter, I received this wonderful note from her young teacher -- Jess was in her first-ever class -- that let me know there are good people everywhere:

Hi,
I know we didn't get too much time to chat today, but I just wanted to tell you a couple things that I have been thinking about. I want to tell you again what a joy it was to have your child in my class last year. I got to know Jake over the course of the year and just adored him. He had such a warm and kind heart towards others, was always willing to help, consistently set good examples for others and always had the biggest smile. He was just a delight to be around! What I want to say from all that.... I know Jessica was a little bit shy to see me today, and I just want her to know that I still love her just the same as the student I had last year. I know she has that same big heart and genuine kindness towards others that makes her so special. To me, it does not matter if she lives as Jake or Jessica, I love her just the same. I believe it is the heart inside the person that makes them who they are. Please let her know that I really think she is so special and hope that she still comes to say hello even though she is a big first grader now!

Thanks for letting me be her kindergarten teacher!

Disturbing packages

Disturbing things have been arriving in the mail. 

I shop online. A lot. Because I'm a single mom who works full time at work and then has a second full-time job at home. My days of leisurely strolling around the mall comparing prices carefully is over. Long gone. With the exception of groceries, socks, underwear and some sporting goods, I shop online. 

When I buy things online, they arrive at my home in boxes. This is good and bad. For a long time, my children were oblivious, so I could Christmas shop, and they never noticed the barrage of boxes arriving beginning after Thanksgiving. But now, when I get home from work, they ceremoniously hand me any boxes that have arrived and stand there expectantly, waiting to see what's inside. 

So the other day, I purchased some clothes online for Jess. She needed spring clothes. So I purchased shorts. I also purchased a couple of outdoor tables. These arrived just as I expected. It was what came with them that was disturbing.

Another word of explanation is needed here. I shop online opportunistically. I may have five minutes while I'm waiting for a conference call at work -- just enough time to go online and put a few items in my cart at whatever store. Then, I return in the evening after the children are sleeping to purchase the items. 

So I ordered Jess two pairs of shorts.Only the disturbing thing was that four came. Apparently, I knew I wanted to order two. So I placed two in the cart. Then, when I went back to order, I evidently placed two more in the cart. Jess ended up with four pairs of grey shorts. They're good shorts, comfy and durable, so okay. No harm, no foul. 

I chalked it up to moving too quickly. Then, today, I came home to find four boxes. Each one of them contained two of the outdoor tables I have been coveting. In this case, I have been coveting these tables for some time, and I've done the online equivalent of mall strolling -- I shopped around online for a good price. They are Polywood. Basically weatherproof and maintenance free. Maintenance free. Two words that make my heart sing. And they're my favorite shade of blue. So I shopped around. And then, apparently, I purchased the two tables I wanted -- at two different stores. Amazon.com and Homedepot.com.

So now, I have four tables (I decided to keep them -- they're quite pretty) and Jess has four pair of shorts, and this much has been confirmed -- I'm officially losing it. 

We're baaaaaack!

"A dream is just a dream.

A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline."

I blogged for a while during my child's journey to be her true self. Now I'm going to set a goal of blogging about my life, just in case I might have something interesting to say. My plan is to blog for three hours a week and my deadline is the end of 2015. So we'll see how I do. 

I've also decided to take my blog public. Why? Bruce Jenner. As the parent of a transgender child, I feel an obligation to talk about what trans means, how it looks, what it feels like. My child does NOT want to be the face of trans kids. She just wants to be a kid. Not a trans kid, but simply a kid. So I've changed her name, and, with her permission, I'll share her story. If Bruce can do it, so can we. Together, we'll move toward understanding and normalization from trans people. 

A little about me. I'm a single mom by choice. I have three amazing children adopted from Guatemala. I'm a slave to the corporate world because I like to:  have a place to live, eat, drive a car and take vacations. But I'm hoping that this corporate gig won't be forever, and that someone will see what a great writer I am on this blog and publish my work, which will become a best seller. So even though I have a goal here, I can still dream. Being a single parent comes with its own challenges, some of which I hope to discuss here. 

I live in a suburb of the greatest city in America (Chicago) with my children, three cats and two dogs. I have a nanny who really runs our household. Our life is not perfect, but we're healthy and happy, and we have each other. 

It's my life, and welcome to it!