April Rising

Work has been hard. And as a way to stick it to the man, I have be spending most of my day searching for other work and catching up on all my favorite blogs and web sites. I was a little surprised to find out that my old college friend Richie is about to be undergoing a serious change.

Most Emerson people would barely remember the boy--he was good friends with Irene and hung out with the Asa, Heath, Charles, Carey group that I paired up with towards the end of school. But Richie was around a lot during my freshmen year with his guitar and making up punk songs like "Rory’s Song" played only in the keys of F A G or working with Irene on lyrics for his band "We Burn Witches".

I recently reconnected with Richie via Myspace purely by accident. I ran into him while searching for various Emerson people and we quickly exchanged a few short funny notes. I hadn’t really spoken to him much since college and while I almost saw him at Ruby and Heath’s wedding--we haven’t had face time in years.

As I looked over his page I had to laugh. He has always been a bit funny and odd and a little into the drugs and so seeing him in a dress or reading that he was 'unsure' with his sexuality struck me as something he would do to screw around. But as time went by I started to question if he was joking since he kept making the references and posting the girly looking pictures.

And then today he wrote an open blog to all of his friends explaining that he was about to start the serious process of becoming a woman. I was a bit shocked--only because I thought he had been joking around--but also quite a bit happy for him. (Or rather--her.)

See--regardless of how silly and indecisive I seem at times--when it comes to the real choices I am always good for a quick and solid answer. If there is one thing I learned growing up was how to make a decision or someone will make one for you (the one you don’t want). It’s hard for me to understand what it must have been like living in limbo, not sure of what to do but knowing that you are not in the right. Or how hard it must be to make a choice that literally changes everything everyone seems to know about you.

But I do get the feeling of relief and fear that Richie talks about in his blog--about how hard it was for him to tell everyone--but about how easy the choice suddenly became. That sudden weightless feeling that makes you feel like you are on an amazing high, that life can be perfect and is yours for the taking. And I'm happy for her.

And if April Alyssa Reed is one half as cool then she'll be more than alright. Puts everything else in perspective when you see what real things there are to deal with in life. Best of luck girl!