This is proof that there is no situation that you cannot change, I said to my 3 children on June 30 2015. You are never stuck. Remember that. 

Two years earlier, just as I was getting ready for bed, my 15 year old entered my bedroom asking if we could talk. As a mom of 3 teenagers, I ran through some typical scenarios as I wondered what might be on this child’s mind. Though there was nothing typical about what came next. Because that was the night my masculine son revealed to me that he was actually my daughter. 

“I’m transgender, am really a girl, and I want to change my body.”

Well, I most likely missed the chapter about how to respond to this in the parenting rule book, because I literally sat there, open mouthed, unable to utter a sound. Finally, eventually finding my voice, I asked over and over, ” Really? Are you sure? Why would you choose that? Can’t you just be gay?” 

This was in 2013 and there was very little in the media about transgender people. No Orange is the New Black, no Caitlyn Jenner. 

I’ve learned since then that this was not a choice she was making. She was born a certain beautiful way and had been forced to pretend to be something else. When I realized that, I felt horrified that my child had to hide something so basic all of these years, all by herself. 

Years later after a surgeon, by the grace of God, was able to help her complete her physical transition, the message I received was loud and clear. If someone can literally ‘change’ their sex physically, then this is proof that we always have choices, we are never truly stuck, and that there is always a way to make a change. We just have to be brave enough to do it.