Dear Friend,
I can't remember your name. I can't even remember who you are. All I remember is that once upon a time we had a little chat, and you said something that turned out to be mistaken. So by way of informing you of your mistake (which I'm sure you would want me to do), I'm posting this on this forum in the hope that you might see it.
You might recall the time a couple of years ago when I was desperate to get out of the closet, to start living as myself full-time. One of my main worries was my landlord. We share a house: he has the downstairs and I have the upstairs. And since we use the same entrance, there was no way I could even think about sneaking around on him. I was going to have to come clean to him if I wanted to come out.
I was seriously worried about that. He's a farmer and a retired policeman, and he simply didn't strike me as the type who would be terribly excited about this sort of thing. I was faced with the possibility of being tossed out of my home and having to look for somewhere else to live.
But you insisted that "You never know. People can surprise you." And I'll grant you that you were right about that part. But then you went on to say, "He might even start seeing you as 'the girl upstairs'." And I had to roar with laughter at that idea.
Yes, you were right about the first part. He certainly did surprise me. He turned out to be perfectly accepting and supportive. The fact is that when I came out to him, I'd been in the house for almost eight years, and we'd always got along fine. We're both quiet people, never stepped on the other's toes. I kept the rent paid up and never caused any trouble, so I did have some faint hope that he might be OK with things.
So he turned out to be. I sat down with him one day and explained what I was planning to do. There's no doubt it came as quite a surprise to him, but he thought about it for a minute and said, "OK."
True, he chuckled a bit the first time he saw me in my new persona. But it wasn't really out of amusement. More out of amazement. And true, he did call me by my old name a few times at first. But he caught on soon enough and never made a mistake after that. And he's continued to do the little things for me, like give me a lift on occasion when it was needed since I don't have a car myself. In other words, to my astonishment, he took my great transformation in his stride, life has gone on, all's right with the world.
And then today: I heard a knock on the door and figured it would be the man from the supermarket delivering my groceries. So I immediately headed down the stairs. But he'd heard the knock as well, and had got to the door just ahead of me. But when he saw the man, he realized it was a delivery for me, so he said, "The lady's just here now." And he left it to me.
So I just wanted to point out your mistake to you: he doesn't see me as "the girl upstairs". He sees me as "the lady upstairs." So there. Just thought you'd want to know.
Hope you're doing well these days.
Your friend,
Foxglove
Yay for you! ;D
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing. ;D
Lol loved it.great post
Oh, gosh :D Ain't that the cutest thing I've heard in a long while, thanks for brightening my day!
I almost expected the story to end with him taking you out for a date (he might be a young retired policeman, you never said anything about his age) ;)
Quote from: HellsbellsMio on August 26, 2014, 10:03:49 AM
I almost expected the story to end with him taking you out for a date (he might be a young retired policeman, you never said anything about his age) ;)
No, I think this might be a bridge too far. I'm no spring chicken myself, but he's well up in his 70's now, maybe pushing 80.
In any case, I wouldn't be interested in a date. Not because of his age, but because. . . Well, no need to go into that.
Quote from: Foxglove on August 26, 2014, 10:37:48 AM
No, I think this might be a bridge too far. I'm no spring chicken myself, but he's well up in his 70's now, maybe pushing 80.
In any case, I wouldn't be interested in a date. Not because of his age, but because. . . Well, no need to go into that.
No of course, I understand, I just got so carried away with the story-like manner you wrote in. :)
It has the feeling of the beginning of a really good book, I think.
Quote from: HellsbellsMio on August 26, 2014, 12:50:32 PM
It has the feeling of the beginning of a really good book, I think.
A friend of mine was just saying it might be the basis for a short story or a magazine article. I'll have to give it some thought.
That's pretty cool. :eusa_clap:
That is fantastic. Congratulations.
Wow, that's an awesome story..! :)
I wish the whole world could be like that.!
That's wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
Quote from: Foxglove on August 26, 2014, 02:53:38 PM
A friend of mine was just saying it might be the basis for a short story or a magazine article. I'll have to give it some thought.
This was my thought also.
that letter is fine just the way it is.
you should send it to some magazine.
Quote from: Taka on August 27, 2014, 05:47:37 AM
that letter is fine just the way it is.
you should send it to some magazine.
Well, thanks to everyone here. Since everybody's being so nice about it, I'll have to try and find a suitable publication.
As you can imagine, I'm over the moon about this now.
One little incident that occurred between me and my landlord that I'm still kicking myself about: we both have gas heaters that we use to boost the heat a bit when we need it. Which means that we have to get those big bottles of gas in from time to time as needed. This is one thing he's really good about: he takes care of that himself since he has a jeep and I have no transport at all.
But once the bottles are in the house, I have to carry mine upstairs. And that's never been easy for me, (1) because I'm not as young as I used to be, (2) because I was never very big and strong to begin with and (3) because those bloody things are heavy.
One time last winter when I needed to get one up the stairs, he offered to carry it up for me--on the grounds that he's a pretty hefty lad and I'm "a lady" now. And stupid me, I should have accepted the offer, but I immediately refused out of embarrassment. I mean, I was always used to trying to be a man, even though I was never very good at it.
As I told a friend of mine (and we had a good laugh about it), I should have swished my skirt at him and said, "Oh, thank you so much! You're such a gentleman!" Instead, as I said, I stupidly declined the offer. But maybe I'll get another chance this winter.
And then another time he was upstairs looking at something for me and I realized that I'd forgotten to move the clothes-horse out of sight before he came up. Lots of clothes hanging on it, including a fair few of my undies. Well, he did notice them, but he said nothing about it. Perhaps he was as embarrassed about it as I was.
He's really an amazing guy. I've had lots of laughs over the last couple of years, I can guarantee you that.
What a story. It just goes to show though. I am so happy it turned out good. :)