Now that you know...

Now that you know....

"Now that you know," she said, "what do you think?"

I think this:

I think I probably should have paid attention to the occasional hints you dropped over the last couple of years; perhaps then I might not have been quite so surprised.

I think that however difficult it may have been to come out and say it, it must have been infinitely more difficult to keep it bottled up inside all this time.

I think you may have underestimated the amount of grief you're going to receive from the arrogantly self-righteous once they find out — but I also think it won't be more than you can handle.

I think it takes a great deal of inner strength to embrace openly a life that so many people deem it their business to scorn.

I think you're indeed fortunate in finding someone to share your new life.

I think everything is probably going to be all right.

Note: This was written for my daughter in the fall of 1996, shortly after she had disclosed that "girlfriend" meant something different from what we had assumed. And while her most recent relationships have been straight ones, she continues to believe, as do I, that when you fall in love, plumbing is mostly irrelevant.

Posted 24 October 1996; updated 22 March 1999