Though you are not blood, you are my family.
We've seen each other's lows at a time when we witnessed similar levels of hell in our pasts. We lived it. We survived it. Those tiny, few years were yet a brief flicker in a starry sky, but they aged us in ways that caught us off guard.
I have often come to your defense and I will always love you, but...
...I realize how little you have come to my defense and I wonder... which side would you choose? Would you look away if I was the one spat upon by those you hold as contemporaries? Would you rationalize it if those contemporaries harmed me or my wife merely for existing?
Deep in my heart, I knew the answer. I knew that you would hold it as a higher priority to be a pleaser among your crowd and remain silent. I knew you couldn't play both sides of the field when those ideals came together like the trite cliche of oil and water. What I didn't know was how long you could maintain the facade or how long I would convince myself to believe it.
Eventually, I found my answer. You thought I wouldn't discover it, but you were careless. Social media tells much more than you could ever fathom. I know that you're aware of what I discovered because your silence since then, your distance, speaks volumes.
I was disheartened and disappointed. I defended you when others wouldn't. I defended you when others shouldn't have. I gave you my understanding because I had seen your heart break when you felt isolated from others. I wanted to always give you that sense of belonging since I knew the comfort of empathy.
But I now know your stance and I'm relieved. I'm relieved that I no longer have to dupe myself into thinking, "That's not how she REALLY feels," or "That's not how she MEANS it..." because now I know those ARE your feelings. That IS what you mean. I'm not am acception to the rule. If that's how you feel about transgender people, so be it.
Still, I love you, but I think this is where we part ways for now.
I will always wish you well, but this is where our paths diverge. This is where I stop making excuses for you and I no longer feel obligated to come to your defense.
This is where I put up the velvet rope and feel at peace with it, and these are the last words I write about it.
tangentwithtanner
areudirty
prguitarman
kianamaiart
snowghoul
