If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos!
Click the Thumbs Up! button below to leave the author a kudos:
And please, remember to comment, too! Thanks.
This story is 0 words long.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos!
Click the Thumbs Up! button below to leave the author a kudos:
And please, remember to comment, too! Thanks.
Comments
“You mean I don’t have to be Kenny?â€
moving stuff, hon. Thank you for sharing it.
thank you Drea
I am sitting here thinking back to my own childhood but all that happens is I go into tears as i remember the nasty way that i was treated for just wanting to be me.
HugsRonnie:(
ROO
Happier then many
Dear Andrea:
This is a happier story with a positive ending then some you have posted before. A family trying to cope as best it can for their child's sake. Those darn pronouns.
RAMI
RAMI
Thank you 'Drea,
That last line says it all,"I don't think you ever were."
How many of us does that apply to in our lives?
ALISON
Touching, as always.
Drea, when you write these vignettes, the realism is so deep
it seems like you're showing us a page from your diary.
.
.
The girl in me. She never wanted to be Kenny either.
Sorta...
Note: This is my personal opinion, and likely does conflict with what others here believe...
Perhaps the child doesn't have to dress like and be called "Kenny" but the years spent pretending to BE Kenny are still part of her and always will be. We have to be COMPLETE people. Denying the part of our lives prior to transition doesn't make us better, it's like cutting off an arm or a leg. It IS part of who we are. Oh, we may not like it. We may wish things had been different. But, we did live through it.
----------------
Is it surprising that the parents are not finding things easy? Far from it. I suspect that any LOVING parent would find it difficult to realize that their child isn't who they thought they were (same is true for siblings, parents, etc.). I know MY parents are not "enjoying" dealing with the idea of my upcoming transition.
That they have supportive friends - that's really not surprising given how caring the parents appear to be in this story. From what I've seen - caring people have caring friends. Those who are more belligerent, demanding, violent tend to have kids that work that way - and run into more issues with those around them almost as if there's some sort of karma involved. I dunno. I really don't.
I did find the story fascinating. I think a conversation like this - between caring parents - is far more likely TODAY than it would have been forty years ago - when I was a young teen.
Thank you,
Annette
You know it's funny, because I never really looked at myself
as anything but a female living inside a body that had a birth defect. Whether that was a "special" girl, a "trans" girl, a pretend? ... No! Pretend it never was. Even though aunt Caroline and her family were friends of my mother's, they accepted me as though I were their very own. My birth mother never did. In My 63 years I have lived with my birth mother for a total of 6 years. She never raised me ... to each other we were simply "related". But between the ages of 10 and 12½ my birth mother made my life hell.
This story is very sweet, and I can understand the father's confusion, denial, sadness and then acceptance of his new daughter.
I think it is very important for parents to know just how their children are going to live their lives. We generally know who we are by age 3, and by age 10 we know that is who we are for the rest of our lives, regardless of what we know or don't know. One thing at that age we do know, though. We know who we are.
This is a wonderful story of family bonding, friendship, understanding and finally, acceptance. Thank you for sharing, Drea.
"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."
A Special, Special Girl
I realized there was more to this special girl than what first seemed to be. There were things about the discussion that implied far more. The picture at the end confirmed it for me, or at least I thought it did. The child has Downe's Syndrome (Confirmed by PM). I'm not sure that this subject has been addressed on this site before. Why can't a developmentally challenged child be transgendered, too. With all the other problems one has to deal with with a 'special child', it might be very easy to overlook the fact the child is transgendered. It would be very easy to just attribute such an affection to another aspect of a mental disability.
'Drea, you brought up something that is far too easy to ignore.
Thank you for opening my eyes.
Portia
Down's Syndrome
I missed that, but after seeing Portia's comment, a quick peek at the photo made it obvious.
(C'mon Lora you ditz, how could you have missed that!)
In that light, this amazing little tale is even more beautiful. Wow, Drea.
I saw and...
I saw, and didn't see it as worth commenting. Why? Probably because I know so many people with Downs, Autism (Spectrum) and other semi-related "conditions" (I don't like to use the word disorder or syndrome. But that's just me.)
But, you are right, a parent so focused on the Downs - having to add in gender identity issues is probably a really large hurdle, and that truly never occurred to me... Sort of getting a second punch in the belly/knock side the head to wake up. At least with the Downs kids I've known - their families knew about it really early on... Years sooner than gender issues would likely appear. Looking back at the story, that does seem to come out. The stumble when they found out she had downs... The dad throwing himself into his work... And then his daughter pulling him back to humanity. (Almost every downs kid I've know have been amazingly loving...)
To be honest - the photo didn't cry out "Downs" to me. And, it still doesn't.
Annette
A special story for a Special Girl...
Just when we think we have problems, you humble us, and we say a prayer for those with more problems still.
Bless you Andrea,
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
Loved The Story
The title sorta put me off, on account of the negative connotations that "Special Girl" evokes in me,
Joanne