Kids Say the Most Wonderful Things

I was reading a young adult novel recently about a transgendered kid and my 7 year old saw it and asked what it was about. I told her that it was about a kid who was born into a boy’s body, but felt like a girl inside. She told me that she didn’t get it, so I told her to close her eyes.

“Now,” I said, “Are you a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” she answered definitively.
“How do you know? You can’t see yourself.”
“I just know.” she replied.
“Okay,” I said, “What if you opened your eyes and you were in a boy’s body? How would you feel?”
“That would be awful!”
“Well, that’s how this kid in the book I’m reading feels all the time. She looks down at her body and it doesn’t feel like hers. She doesn’t understand why she’s in a boy’s body and not a girl’s.”
My daughter replied, “I feel so sad for her. Is there any way for her to get a girl’s body?”

My point is that if a 7 year old can understand it, then anyone can. I think my daughter would be happy for these women who finally have a body that matches who they are on the inside.

--Stacey, responding to News Blog article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Vacation and Birthday Part II

Well, it was back to work today after a week's vacation, but I made good use of the weekend! Friday I began cleaning out my garage. A job that was long overdue, despite a bit of progress I made last summer. I'm happy to say that, thanks to CraigsList, Freecycle, and Chris, I was able to get rid of two couches, a bike, a foosball table, a bag of fabric and patterns, an old table I had on the patio, a dusty old box fan, and 5 years' worth of old National Geographic magazines. I also took a car trunk and back seat full of stuff to Goodwill. I'm not finished yet, but wow do things look different now than they did three days ago!

The weekend wasn't all work, though, as I played all three evenings! Friday I celebrated with 9 friends (see photo) at Salmon Creek Brew Pub. There was beer, appetizers, cards, gifts, and just a lot of fun.

Saturday evening my friend Kent had me over to his house for dinner. Kent worked at the Foundation about 7 years ago, but these days we only see each other once or twice a year, so it was a lot of fun to visit with him and catch up on things. And dinner was delicious: lentil pate with baguettes, vegetable toad-in-the-hole (sauted and steamed fresh veggies on a bit of a batter/dumpling-type crust), and homemade peach pie. Oh, and mojitos. It was delicious!

Sunday afternoon Dad, Mark and Chris came to my house for a visit. We chatted for a while and had some snacks, then went over to the Refectory in Portland for their Sunday night blues jam and half-price food and drinks. It was definitely nice to spend the last evening of my vacation with family.

Vacation and Birthday

I’ve been on vacation this week and, though I haven’t traveled any further away from home than Portland, it’s been a very enjoyable week. Sometimes staying home, sleeping in, catching up on chores, and spending time with someone you love is the best way to spend a vacation.

I had a two-day birthday celebration with Mark on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon we took a very nice walk, about 5 miles round-trip we figured, along part of the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail. Walking, talking, enjoying the scenery, the mild summer afternoon, and each other’s company…it was very nice. Later we fixed a delicious (and healthy!) dinner of salmon, salad, and fresh fruit, and then traveled to Horse Brass Pub in Portland to play darts. We’ve played steel tip darts 5 times or so over the past few weeks, and we’re really enjoying it. While Mark had played steel tip darts before, I think that my experience was limited to soft tip darts, and that was probably at least 12 years ago. I had forgotten just how fun playing darts is, and it’s becoming even more fun as I’m getting to a point where I can sometimes hit the spot on the board that I’m aiming for! Horse Brass is our favorite place to play to-date, though we sometime have to wait for one of their four boards. The second attraction is the fact that they have 50 beers on tap. Well, they run out of beer all the time, so it’s probably more like 25 or 30 at any one time, but still a good selection. After several games at Horse Brass, we went over to Lucky Lab on Hawthorne to share one last beer, a basket of potato chips (with Tobasco--my new favorite snack!) and a game of Outburst (board game). Lucky Lab is fun because it’s less crowded than Horse Brass, they have two dart boards, and a selection of board games that you can play while enjoying your beer. The down side is a much more limited beer selection, and the fact that they close at midnight, even on Friday and Saturday.

Thursday’s celebration was a little quieter as Mark needed to finish getting things together for his trip to Glacier National Park, plus he had to get up early this morning to start his long drive. But we still had a nice time eating dinner and birthday cheesecake together, shooting a few baskets, watching a little football, and playing a little more Outburst. I received nice cards from Mark (to go with the beautiful ring, great Keens sandals, and Nano I-Pod he’d already given me) and Erin; an e-card from Mom; a fun posting by Chris on the family website, complete with comments from others; and birthday wishes via phone from Kit and Mark (Todd).