Kindness

The quiet whisper of thanks

The honest reply of 'I'm not okay'

Kindness

Kindness

The hugging of friends

The empathy of wanting to help

Kindness

Kindness

The picking up of trash

The simplicity of giving

Kindness

Kindness

The cleaning up around you

The golden, loving heart

Kindness

Kindness

Sometimes I wonder

If anyone has any at all

Kindness

Kindness

But then I see the small boy

Picking up after his little sister

Kindness

Kindness

The tired girl

Helping the old man

Kindness

Kindness

The spent mother giving

To the homeless by her work

Kindness

Kindness

But if everyone gave a little bit

And helped a little more

Kindness

Kindness

Maybe we'd find a will

To live a little longer

Kindness

Kindness

Will be our defeat

Or will it be our saving grace?

Kindness

Well, he's sort of a pet? Does it count if the critter adopts you rather than the other way around? We named him Frankie. Frankie the frog. A very large bullfrog. And Frankie decided that his natural habitat would include our swimming pool.

I like frogs. They are quite cute and interesting to look at, but I was also not the type of girl that would put one in her pocket. What I really don't like is frog poop, or poop of any kind for that matter. As we all know, a natural habitat will come with the excrement of its inhabitants and consequently, our white pool steps were becoming stained the color of brown, and plagued by bacteria, much to my dismay.

So we kept coaxing Frankie each day, a little further and further away from our pool, and each morning, he was back like clockwork, ready to do his business, an artist in his own right.

This is the part of the story that is harder to admit than decorative poop floating in my swimming pool. My husband decided to take Frankie further than he ever had, about five hundred feet away, pretty close to another neighbor's swimming pool. He really is neighborly, for the most part and I do believe he had no malicious intent. Or did he? If he was a bad person, he might have had Frankie meet an early demise. Right? Well, either way, no surprise, the next time we saw our neighbor she said, "There is this big bullfrog floating in my pool every morning. Are there any in your pool?"

"Nope." Said my husband, matter of factly.

In the mirror

What I see

Is someone who’s a bit like me

Slightly older

Not as fit

And he’s getting on a bit

Still quite handsome

With a smile

That could light a golden mile

Sparkle eyes

A knowing look

Wisdom like an open book

He nods at me

As I pass by

With a twinkle in his eye

Suggesting all

Will be alright

As I pass and say goodnight.

"Um, Mom?" she said in a quavering voice.

I looked up from my cooking magazine to find my 15 year old daughter shifting from one leg to another like she needed to pee, gnawing on the fingernails that hadn't grown past the quick since she was born. Her face was somewhat green. I wondered if she was catching the flu. "Are you feeling ok honey? Do you need some Tylenol or something? You look green and like you need to pee."

She grimaced slightly and said, "No, I need to tell you something."

At this point, multiple thoughts raced through my head. Was she pregnant? Did she fail a test at school? Did she break a neighbor’s window? Eat all the ice cream? Perhaps she was running off to join the circus? I tilted my head to the side and just said "ok." We had a pretty open, trusting relationship, and I couldn't imagine why she was so worried.

In a rush it all came out, "Mom I'm bisexual." Then she just stood perfectly still, holding her breath like a deer frozen in the headlights of a car.

I stood up, I hugged her and I told her I loved her. I was so proud of her courage, and so touched that she trusted me enough to share that part of her life with me. I was not really surprised, because she had always seemed to find other females attractive. If anything, I wondered if she was kidding herself about being bi, when she was actually a lesbian. It did not matter to me, though. My opinion of her did not change.

She was still the kid who loved macaroni and cheese, and who danced around the house all the time. She loved art and music and hated my sense of fashion. ("Are you seriously wearing that to work? You know that doesn't match, right?") I chuckle even now, remembering how many ugly, mismatched outfits she saved my co-workers from having to endure. This beautiful, talented, compassionate, sensitive soul was entrusted to my care in this life. Who was I to judge who she loved or what she did with her genitals? She was - and is - a bright and capable human being. That doesn't change based on her sexual preference.

After she came out, I began to do more research on the LGBTQ+ community, and spent some time getting to know a few of her friends from the Gay Student Alliance (GSA) at her school. I learned that LGBTQ+ kids are much more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts, and they are also more likely to run away from home and live on the street. I took that information like a glass of ice water thrown in my face. It has always been important to me to support my kids no matter what, but seeing what the LGBTQ+ community is up against was really sobering.

One night, the GSA gave a presentation at the local library on transgender issues. Following the meeting, some of the kids’ parents came to pick them up. They were either not able or not interested in attending the meeting. The curses and hate those parents slung at some of those kids was disgusting; I would never say some of those things to my worst enemy, let alone to my own flesh and blood. One child kept screaming, “I’m Theo, I’m Theo” and their mother was coldly hissing “Annika, get in the car NOW.” Theo was doubled over, as though punched in the gut, crying. Every molecule within me wanted to get involved and take Theo home with us. Yet this was an issue between a parent and their minor child. Somebody called the police.

I was up all night, worrying about Theo and wondering what would happen to him. I asked my daughter about him, and she said Theo had gone to live with a relative in another city and was no longer going to her school. Honestly, the memory of that night haunts me and I pray that Theo is ok wherever he is.

I worry about all the Theo’s out there… is anyone watching over them? Is anyone hugging them and making sure they have food and a roof over their heads? Is anyone telling them they are wanted and loved, as they are?

At the time, I comforted myself that my child was not transgender, and I didn’t have to worry about that. It seems like so many people are accepting of gay and lesbian couples these days; it almost felt pedestrian to me. At least I didn’t have to worry about my child being transgender, with all the bullying and hatred that comes with being part of that community.

Well, at least I thought I didn’t.

It was about a year after my daughter told me she was bisexual that she came out as non-binary and pansexual. I asked her if that meant she was attracted to rocks. Yeah, that went over like a ton of, well, rocks. After I scraped her off the ceiling, I told her I was just teasing her; things were so serious and I was just being my normal, goofy self.

She explained that she was no longer a “she.” Non-binary meant that she was neither fully female nor fully male. She was both. Being non-binary meant she was part of the transgender community. Her pronouns were now “they, them, theirs” not “she, her, hers.” I admit I still struggle sometimes to call my child “them,” but I do the best I can. My child also decided to change their name from Emily to Bo. We had a celebration back in April when we went to the courthouse to witness the official, legal proceeding. I now have no daughter named Emily.

This has probably been the hardest thing for me to accept. If she was a lesbian, and her name was Emily, she would still be female and still my daughter. Now, I no longer have that.

But I choose to focus on what I do have rather than what I have lost. How lucky I am to have a beautiful, talented, courageous child, who is true to themselves, who stands up against inequality and yearns to make the world a better place. Sexuality and gender are frosting; it’s the person underneath that really matters.

You never tired of telling others

all the ways I’d let you down,

from childhood years to teenage troubles,

so much blame to throw around.

You asked yourself out loud why I was good at school and bad at home,

but never stopped to ruminate

on how you treated me alone.

I was your biggest disappointment,

no matter how hard I would try,

so after learning it was futile

I simply gave up asking why.

And as I grew cold, you grew colder,

as I retreated, so did you,

and as we bitterly grew older,

the rift between us, it grew too.

Now that I am grown and healing,

I can look back through the years,

it wasn’t me that you were hating,

I was your legacy, your mirror.

#mirror @Jade04 #mom #catharsis

I’m the 1st breath you take 

I am the life in you 

Green trees 

Ocean , Desert  , Mountain & Sea 

I am flow of energy 

I am in this universe entirely

You took me for granted 

You claimed I’m not fair 

I gave some lesson but you didn’t grasp them 

Presented some options 

You couldn’t manage !

still didn’t figure !

eventually pulled the trigger 

(The , lights ..... they all flashed )

Your body felt numb , I was now exiting  

You’re officially Done 

I’ll strengthen your family 

As now they are now numb 

Your death is a hurtle they must overcome

Your pain was not killed it also just moved on

The bullet wasn’t the answer

bad perception = cancer

“We all have a choice”

That’s The real anthem

Live , love .. enjoy