Would You Forgive Someone Who Turned Against You When You Came Out?

The story of how my friends reacted when I told them I was gay, plus an inspirational new movie and a sweet letter that makes me cry.

Jul 24, 2024

∙ Paid

Dearest reader,

Hello again from the beach! We’re down at our little beach for the second week, trying to squeeze in as much fun in the sun as we can before school starts back at the beginning of August.

Our moms just left the beach yesterday after being down here for a week, and we’re feeling just a little sad today. What is it about being the last person on vacation that just feels lonely? Even if you’re technically in paradise?

I think it’s because we made some good memories with them this week, ones that we cherish so much, because how often do we get one on one time with our moms like this?

Whether it’s hanging out with them by the ocean as they talk and gossip:

Or going to the ferris wheel that our kids have been asking to ride for years and somehow my mom finally convinces us to just go for it one night:

Or going out to eat with the whole family on the last night, including PJ’s little sister and grandma who came on the trip with us:

These feelings will eventually fade as we settle into the rhythm of it just being the five of us down here, and we’ll remember why we love this place so much. Our mornings are spent getting as much work done as we can, and our days are spent at the beach lounging in the sand under our Shibumi Shade while the kids play in the water, which is extremely eventful, apparently: Earlier this week, our oldest comes running out of the water screaming in pain and hopping on one leg. Panicked, we ran over to him asking what’s wrong.

A tiny crab had somehow wedged its way between his toes in the water and was pinching him (!). PJ quietly picked it out and threw it back into the gulf, which, thank goodness because I can’t even handle stuff like that, haha.

And then yesterday, our oldest once again comes running out of the water, but this time he was holding his cheek in pain, and a giant welt was forming underneath his hand.

PJ went back into the water to see what had bit him, and he found a tiny baby jellyfish, which I failed to get a photo of, and brought it out to show us all. We’re 99% sure that’s what stung him after Googling what baby jellyfish stings look like, and the wild part is, just the night before, we watched a movie where a swimmer gets stung by jellyfish and we all talked about how much that would hurt.

Now our son has a pretty cool story to tell his friends when school starts back up.

The rest of our time here has been spent eating out, doing school work on the iPad to prepare for the coming weeks, spending time with family, and making this little cottage feel more like home.

Also! Something fun that just came out today: We did an interview with The Washington Post about fostering and then adopting our children, and Cathy Free, the writer, was so thoughtful and sweet with her words, and was an absolute joy to talk to over the phone. The comments in the comment section have even been nice, too!

You can read the whole story here, though it’s paywalled and you may only get one free read, so keep that in mind!

Okay! Here is the rest of this week’s newsletter…