Day 185 Remote Possibilities


June 12, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each day’s gift.)

Pink or blue?
Improv theater took me to Baltimore tonight. I’ve often admired people who can get on stage and go with the flow in the moment without benefit of a script. I’ve been on stage with no script a couple of times at Stoop Storytelling but I was in control of what I would say. In improv theater, the actors play off of one another and you have to be able to shift directions. 

Our new daughter-in-law, who has shifted directions, performed with the improv group Remote Possibilities tonight. She used to be our son-in-law. It would seem that what was once a remote possibility has turned into a reality for her. She is facing her gender dysphoria head-on in what might seem like improv to some but which is a transformation that has evolved over many years.  

The transgender concept is not new to me. I have some transgendered friends and have had many discussions on this topic. Deborah Rudacille’s book, The Riddle of Gender, shed some light for me on a topic that most people cannot wrap their heads around. What makes the most sense is to understand that gender is not binary—although when a baby is born, a most asked question shows an acceptance of binary gender, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  The reality is that there is a gender continuum. Regardless of physical appearance, people fall in different places on the continuum.  Most things in life are not binary. When a doctor asks how much pain I am feeling, it’s on a sliding scale. There are degrees of sadness and happiness and usually not an either/or. 

I have noticed a transformation in our daughter-in-law. She smiles much more now than s/he used to.

My gift today is witnessing transformation.
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> Day 186: Art and Traditions

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:

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