“When I was 33 I was in a self-awareness workshop and at the end of it I stood up and said “I know quite a lot about myself and where I want to be but I don’t always have the accountability for that and I would really benefit from someone in my life who wasn’t afraid to ‘call me out’ when I need it”. Another woman in the workshop who I hadn’t talked to stood up and said ”I’ve love to do that for you. That’s something I’m very good at”. Talk turned into dinner, turned into a lot of dinners, turned into a relationship pretty immediately. My mum was in that self awareness workshop too. 2 or 3 weeks after that initial ‘stand up moment’ I called my Mum and said “Mum I’ve got something to share with you and I’m not entirely sure how you’re going to take it but it’s really important for me to tell you” so she was very braced for something, like ‘ok, what is it?’. I said I’ve stated a relationship with Anne’ and I kind of held my breath waiting for some sort of moment. Mum’s view of same sex relationships was it’s not god’s best plan. She believes it’s wrong but she said “Am I supposed to be shocked. I think she’s wonderful”.
We got engaged this year…my Dad has never said “congratulations’ or I think that’s really great. I don’t expect that from them. All I really need from them is for them to treat me like I haven’t changed…cos I haven’t.”