Thread by @Thunt_Goblins

So today, I came out to my in-laws. We went over for lunch, knowing that we were going to drop this bomb on them (They're super old school and don't look at any social media). @DragonTurtle and I were terrified on the drive over there.

After a few bites of my greek salad, I started to explain to two people in their late 70s, who don't have any idea what trans is, that I'm trans. I was so scared of creating some kind of rift between my wife and her parents if they reacted badly.

For the first 10 minutes, I couldn't summon the courage to describe myself as "transgender" or refer to myself as "her" or "she". I was too terrified of overwhelming them or freaking them out. I talked about my "gender issues" and danced around the big, key phrases.

Knowing exactly what I was afraid of, @DragonTurtle nudged me and openly said "Say the other parts because if you don't, you're leaving important things out". That was the push I needed to be able to say "I'm transgender".

I assured them that I'm still me. That I still love their daughter. I talked about how much happier we both are, since I started transitioning. Eventually, they started to ask us questions about this. Trying to understand what it was and what it meant.

Still uncertain about their reaction and determined to avoid an awkward silence, I started to describe how nervous I'd been about telling them. How @DragonTurtle and I had no idea how they'd react to something like this.

I clumsily mentioned a fear of being thrown out of their home. That's when @DragonTurtle's Dad said "Not until you finish your salad" and we all laughed. Wow, did that laugh ever feel good. Then her Dad congratulated me. 20 minutes before this, he didn't know what trans meant...

and now he was congratulating me for starting my transition. Then Mom got up, walked around the table and gave me a tight hug, telling me that she was so happy for me. Dad, also came over and hugged me. This quiet, reserved, old fashioned man hugged me tighter than he ever had.

And when I let go of him, he didn't stop hugging. I'd gone over this in my mind dozens of times and I never imagined it going so well. They told me that they loved me, that they were happy for me, and that they were so glad that their daughter married me.

Out of all the scary things that @DragonTurtle and I knew were coming in these early stages of transitioning, that was by far the scariest. And now that it's behind us, we couldn't be happier.