Momma, If That's Moving Up, Than I'm Moving [On]
I was watching this amazing show called POSE the other day. The main character's mother died, and she found out through a phone call from an old friend. Her mother and she hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in many years because the mother disapproved of the main character being trans. Even though the main character still had grief and anger over it, she wanted to attend the funeral and forgive her mother for throwing her out onto the streets. She went to the funeral, faced mass adversity from her family, and did what she needed to do to heal. Since I stopped speaking to my mother, I’ve been told I need to forgive her. Sometimes it was said kindly, and sometimes it wasn’t. I don’t believe that forgiveness is the only answer, but I do think acceptance is important to my personal healing. I’ve been told that forgiveness doesn’t have to be about her—not a way to wipe the slate clean, but a way to make myself feel free. I couldn’t see that philosophy in the past, but I kind of unders...