An Old Lady Learns Something New

I told my 92-year old mother today that the person I was married to decades ago was now a trans woman. I asked her if she knew what that meant. She said she didn’t. I explained that even though my husband appeared to be a man at the time that he was actually a woman. She was a woman who had been born into a man’s body. My mother said, “That’s really confusing.” I went on to explain that this first partner of mine changed the way their body looked to match who they are on the inside, a woman. My mother said, “I didn’t realize he dressed up in women’s clothes.” I told her it was much more than clothes. I said, “It was about living in the world as who he,” (I had to say ‘he’ first because my mother has dementia), “actually she is.” My mother said, “That’s a surprise. A good surprise. I’m happy for him.” She got the pronoun wrong but she gets it. I wish everyone did.

Cinse Bonino
2022