Episode 2.
The middle years.
This is a short episode, covering middle school and high school.
Why is it short? Middle and high school are blurry. I don’t have any great memories from that period in my life. I can’t even blame puberty – I was a late bloomer.
I didn’t fit in. I was just the smart kid everyone wanted in their project group. I was the guaranteed A.
I still had the same recurring dreams though, that I do remember.
It’s a good thing I didn’t know I was transgender then.
I think it was God’s way of saving me from a much darker future.
I was fully entrenched in 90s church youth group culture during that period. I don’t think it helped much and it was definitely not helpful to my psyche. Trying to be “on fire for God” and the “Christian light to the world” when you were still trying to figure out how to be a person… Like I didn’t have enough going on in my head.
We were in the “sit Bible width apart” era for guys and girls. We were in the “God made you perfect the way you are” era.
LGBTQ+ wasn’t a thing in small-town America then. If it was, you know it would have been “fire and brimstone” if you even mentioned it. I don’t even remember knowing that “being gay” was a thing then either
Talk about being sheltered.
It’s a good thing I didn’t know I was transgender then. I think it was God’s way of saving me from a much darker future. We’ll get into faith in an upcoming post. You might be surprised to learn where I stand.
What I do know is that I made it. I made it through middle school and high school.
Episode 3. The College Years. Coming next.
