Dear Steele: I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have stayed anonymous. I had a question and I asked it. Now I have a face. I have a voice. I have a nationality. Now they ask me the ice breaker question they ask at a writer’s workshop. “So what type of book are you writing?” I’m not writing a book.
“So what type of book do you want to write?” I don’t know. I’m in therapy. My boyfriend just died and my mother thought this cruise would be good for me. That was my elevator speech. It wasn’t prepared in advance, but it worked; certainly after that they would leave me alone.
Since he transitioned I’ve been writing like crazy. I write online in a public prayer book, so people say I should write a book. I got two for one: a cruise to assuage my mother’s concerns and a writing workshop to assuage my curiosity.
The lady just looked at me. She didn’t know what to say. By this time my eyes were glassy: the tears were standing by. She said: “Well this is exactly where you are supposed to be. Sorry for your loss.” Thanks. I wiped a tear from my cheek.