‘Transitioning’ Out of The American Dream
Taking the leap of faith as a middle age, middle class parent to embrace a transgender identity and life journey
… I sat on the edge of our bed, shivering in fear of what I was about to do. With a few short words, I was going to destroy a dream and a family I had worked an entire life to be a part of. It was dark in our room; my wife had just returned from putting our 6-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter to bed. As she came into the room, she noticed me there, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” She asked in a concerned voice.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I was paralyzed with fear, and all I could do was stare at my wife with a dumbfounded expression. My wife must have sensed it because the urgency of her tone increased, and she began to yell frantically
“<Full Dead Name>! I demand you tell me what’s going on right now; you are really scaring me!”
Something happened at that moment, and all of a sudden, it felt like I was outside my body and observing myself in the 3rd person. I felt a strange numbness wash over me and I began to speak, but it felt as though the words coming from my mouth did not originate from me…
