I guess this made me happy. To a degree it only !made me perplexed. I was doing laundry in the common laundry room when a neighbor came in and began doing his. I was dressed androgynously because, well, just because. I was being my normal self and wondered the whole time "does he think I'm a woman? A gay man?" We talked about the complex, our families, places we had lived. When we he was done and I was folding he came over, put out his hand and said. Have a good day, I'm (name)." I responded, "nice to meet you, I'm Dee." Wow did that throw me for a loop! "Dee" not "Dion". When did I internalize my nickname enough to offer it to strangers at first meeting? Previously I had only let people use it after I had known them a while.
