weening~

So, it is December 24th. Yesterday we went to my aunt's house to exchange gifts with the extended family. Again, I was fearing the worst, as I was not yet prepared for answering the slew of questions that might have surfaced about my surgery, and all that it represents. It became clear pretty early on that my family will be slow to making symbolic changes like referring to me with the masculine gender markers. (It will be awkward in public when I am passing more and more, and then will have them "she" me infront of strangers. It has happened with friends, and it can get weird. Waiters get tripped up, and suddenly think that I am underage and pulling many fast ones on them. ugh!)

Overall, it went fine. I had a great heart to heart with my cousin who is a few years older than me. She rolled with everything, and just wanted to know how I was feeling. My dad's sister caight me off guard when she made a point to corner me, and say:

"Well, since I haven't heard anyone else talk about it, I will break the silence and ask the awkward question. So, are you moving up here, or what?"

Riiiiiight. Apparently, she missed the family memo of potentially awkward family conversations, so that one was fine to answer. Phew~and we all exhaled a collective sigh of relief. After that, it was seemless. I did, however, get really exhausted from the drive up and back to Boston. For some reason car rides seem to completely sap my energy and resilence. I am trying to ween myself off of the pain meds, and save some for my longer trek back, so this middle ground feels a bit too long. We shall see.

So far, so good. Eating too many starches, watching really bad cable, and developing a beer gut sans beer. Sux. But I guess the holidays could be worse. And so it goes... Weening away.