Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was interesting this year. First off, it was my first Thanksgiving as a man and that felt somewhat liberating.

I spent the first part of my day with the Silvers Family, a family of 5 children and a mom that have always been closer to me than my own family. The oldest of the 5 children is 27 or 28, and the youngest is about to be 18. I cherish all of them dearly. I am close with all of them and some of them live out of town so it was nice to have them all back in one house for the holiday. For some of them, it was their first time seeing me at all since I started transitioning and they all handled it so well. Each of them are incredibly supportive. They just know and love me as me, and whatever I choose to be or choose not to be is totally fine by them. I couldn't have asked for a warmer welcoming. They asked me questions about how I take the hormones and what changes I've noticed and they commented on how much they like my facial hair. :)

After I got to spend some time with them, it was off to Angie's house, my mom's best friend. I was told that there were going to be a lot of different people at Angie's house, some of Angie's family, some of her and my mom's friends, so kind of a random group. And I was slightly nervous. I had a feeling my mom wasn't going to talk about my transition with anyone or warn them ahead of time and I was right. I was going back and forth about whether or not I was going to shave my face for the occasion, and I decided not to. I really didn't want to shave and the only reason I was going to consider shaving was so that I didn't have to come out to a bunch of people and make the holiday about me and my transition. But that would just be avoiding reality. So, I didn't shave and I walked in sporting my scruffy face. When I walked in the door and saw some familiar faces, it was a little awkward. I could tell by the way some people were looking at me that they clearly had not been told. But it was ok. No one shunned me or looked at me in an unsupportive way. I mostly just got looks of people putting the pieces together, like Jamie has a beard now, oh so that must mean Jamie is male. It went more smoothly then I thought it would, though I was slightly put off by my mom's attitude of avoidance. I got to spend some time with my sister and her children which was nice also. They were a good distraction for me as I was feeling like all eyes were on me for a little while. I also got to catch up with a childhood buddy of mine. He is Angie's son and was my best friend in the world when I was younger. He was also really supportive which was important to me. I also spent my time chit chatting with him and catching up. Another nice distraction.

After I was at Angie's, I then returned to the Silvers house for dessert. When we are all together, we like to sing as a family. Each year we sing some songs from Rent, an this year we also sang a little bit from Wicked. Each year I would normally sing a duet with Joanna (the musical theatre major of the family, and an aspiring Broadway Star). We usually sing "Take me or Leave me", but this year was different. I can no longer sing those notes so we decided to have me sing the reprise of "I'll cover you". And I did it, and I hit all of the notes. And they all applauded so loudly and said, "Congratulations, this is your celebration into manhood. You've officially become a man". I got teary eyed. It was awesome. They just love me and were so supportive. They as a whole, don't think twice about accepting people as they are. They are truly the most loving people I know. So, they really made my Thanksgiving a happy one, the happiest one I've had in a long time.

Here's a quick Vlog update