Father's Day

This has been hard for me to start writing.  Even before I first began to understand what my true gender was, I was uncomfortable about the kind of dad I was.  I was, still am, very proud to be the father of my 1stDaughter and my Son.  It has always been a blessing, a Grace thing from Poppa, to be the person He chose to help bring these two miracles into the world.

I am a follower of the Way of Jesus Christ.  I have always believed and have always been serious about the Word and tried to live my life according to my understandings.  The way I read my Bible, fathers are a big deal, with a great deal of responsibility for their children.  Being a husband and a father… I took it to be an extremely self-sacrificial calling.  A calling I had very little training for.  My Dad wasn't a bad dad; he was just very wrapped up in himself and absent a lot with his work and his hobbies.

So, I was called to this task with few tools and baggage I wasn't always aware of.  I tried the best I could to be a good dad.  I wasn't as emotionally available to my children as I think I should have been.  I had no idea or understanding of the "Daddy-Princess" relationship that I found out years later my 1stDaughter sorely missed.  I think she still misses it.  I wasn't always around for my Son to play catch or do other guy stuff. I took him camping and fishing and encouraged him with his scouting.

But because I could sense that I was broken and, at first, not sure how I was broken, and because being a Dad was not as natural as I thought it should have been, I was very uncomfortable with Father's Day.  Father's Day was an honor I did not feel worthy of. 

Today, the children I am father to are pretty much grown.  My 1stDaughter  is a pastor and has planted church.  She just got married to a very nice young Christian man.  My Son is called to ministry, too.  He currently works at a Union Gospel Mission in British Columbia and has a second job in service to people who are down on their luck.  I am very, very proud of them both.

TransJourney Countdown: T Minus 58 Days

After wondering if we would ever make this documentary, in barely less than 2 months (58 days to be exact) we will finally begin our TransJourney to Seattle, WA from my home in Coventry, RI!  We haven't actually begun our trip yet; but it already seems like we've been on such a journey just to get this off the ground!

Fundraising efforts have occupied a lot of our time of late.  It's an evil but necessary task.  I am hopeful that we will have what we need when we depart on August 1st.  It's been an emotional roller coaster ride to get where we are now!

The good news is that we now have our route worked out.  We'll be heading out through Massachusetts toward the New York Thruway with our first stop in Toledo, OH.  Then off to Rockford, IL.  Depending upon the time, we may meet with some newly acquainted Rockford PFLAG members and spend the night there or drive on to Minnesota.  The next stop will be Bismarck, ND and then on to Bozeman, MT where, if time permits, we'll meet up with some Bozeman PFLAG members.  From Bozeman we'll make a bee-line to our rented house in Seattle, WA on August 5th.  There will be some long days driving, but with 3 drivers, it shouldn't be too bad.

Originally, we were going to go through South Dakota; but then I realized that we would be heading West the same time as bikers would be heading to the big rally in Sturgis, SD.  So, in order to avoid any possible traffic congestion on the highway, we decided to take the northern route through North Dakota.  It's supposed to take the exact amount of time.  On the way back, we'll go through South Dakota for a change of scenery.

The next step is to make hotel reservations in each of these locations.  I'll be looking into that later this week.