I entered my sister's house for Thanksgiving, and my nephew immediately bellowed out, "Hello, Uncle Xxxxxx!!!"
Oh, jeez...
I collected a can of Guinness and a pint glass from the kitchen, and engaged in the usual family banter, waiting for Steve (the nephew,) to need to dilute the blood in his nicotine stream ('go have a smoke...')
Eventually he signaled his need for a fix, and we headed out to the patio. I was NOT going to out myself, but I WAS going to behave exactly as I am now. We talked catch-up. I told him of the Global Hawk launch and recovery I'd videotaped, he talked about things he was doing working in SoCal.
But he kept probing, and I kept swatting away and changing the subject...
"What's up with your voice, dude? You been taking singing lessons or something?" Not really a question, that... I tried to deflect, lying that my voice was tired from shouting during the Global Hawk event. I don't live very well, and never have. Besides, my sister is a singing instructor/coach (and it just occurred to me as I write this that she might have coached him to say that!!!)
I swore him to secrecy and outed myself. No sooner did the word 'transsexual' leave my lips when the patio door opened and Jake, My nieces' nosy fiancee walked out, and Steve and I had to stifle giggles as he made himself a pest and then finally left.
Steve took it well. After we talked it out, I handed him a copy of my letter to read later. He clued me in that when he got to the house, one of the first things everyone else had asked him was, "Have you SEEN Xxxxxx lately???" My family...
So, he knows, they suspect, I'm smiling as I write this. I wonder what I'll be getting for Christmas?
Karen
P.S., I see him again tonight, along with his mom (my other sister,) and her new husband. So I'll get to pump him for what they said about me after I collected my dad and we left...
