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Seriously, contrary to facebook rumors, Bree is alive and well. It's just...summer. I can go outside. WOOHOO! Winter gets very long when you are cooped up and can't go outside without entering the er from the cold-induced asthma attack. Anyone here have asthma and know what I mean? Not being able to breath very suddenly sucks. So I have spent the last couple months outside with Nikki nearly continuously. (Yes, we should all be worrying about global warming, our local weather has gone very strange the last several years, and continues to do so). We cooked out, we swam, we chased pokemon all over the town, and we are having a great summer. Hope you are all aslo enjoying the great summer! (or winter, if you are in the southern hemisphere).

Just cut ties with my father. I've talked about him and the complicated relationship before, and why I didn't really know what I was holding onto. Well, he finally pushed that last button and I went nuclear. He called me stupid again, which I'm used to really, over my belief that we have to do better as a nation to care for people. There aren't enough jobs. They are getting shipped overseas en masse. The old get a job rhetoric is a joke, and there is no reason anyone should be homeless and starving in this country. We have the ability to fix it, we as a society choose not to. But to go on calling my son a loser over and over when he DOESN"T KNOW HIM pushed me over the edge. He has consistantly refused to talk to the boy on the phone or e-mail his whole life. How on earth can he accurately state anything other than that boy exists and his name? He doens't know it. So I told him off royally, including the phrase "you need to learn when it's time to shut the eff up" I am so done. From now on Nikki has stepped up to create the Great Wall of Nikki around me, and that man has lost access. Because I am done. Toxicity helps no one. I know a lot of people here will understand, because it doesn't matter if the core issues is transgender or racism, the emotional fall out is the same. The same ugly, the same judgement, the same crazy. I need a hug. This summer was going so well too.

As I often do on Sunday mornings over coffee I read The New York Times and this morning was no different. I ran out of things that interested me so did a search on "transgender" and found the following article about Barry Winchell's murder while in the US Army, who was in a serious relationship with Calpernia Addams, a transexual woman. I came close to crying in the neighborhood coffee shop as I was so taken by the depth of feelings that came up: An Inconvenient Woman I then checked Huffington Post's TRANSGENDER page which often has interesting articles and, thankfully, found one that was so delightful, about an 11 year old gay boy's first day at middle school, how he met and befriended an 11 year old transgender girl, and his wonderful mother: When My Son Met Another Out LGBTQ Kid On The First Day Of Middle School Okay, great, feeling better! At least until I read another one on Huff Post: Surviving The Waves Of History: Bathroom Bills Can Be Deadly which is about a transman's suicide over the weight that he could bear no longer from those who deny transgender people's validity and rights. He just missed Attorney General Loretta Lynch's speech where she said: "Let me also speak directly to the transgender community itself. Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side. This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that promise, little by little, one day at a time. It may not be easy — but we’ll get there together.” We will, my friends, get there together. What a Sunday morning it's been. Here's wishing you a beautiful day. Go hug someone. Emma