We're All Alright

Mr. Reese couldn't believe what had just heard come out of his eight year old daughter’s mouth. He sat diagonally across from her and took a break from his pasta to try and wrap his head around her combination of words.

“No I’m not. Mom, Rhi’s lying on me again!” Declan who was sitting right next to his father pleaded his case.

“It’s not a lie, stupid. It’s true.”

“No it’s not! And I’m not stupid. You’re stupid.”

“Rhiannon…” Mrs. Reese calmly said silencing her children’s bickering.

Finally Mr. Reese thought. His wife was stepping into the off the wall conversation that was going on at their dinner table. She would know exactly what to say. She always did.

“…where did you hear that word?”

“Suzy Crenshaw. Her brother’s told her and she told me and that’s why they won’t let him play with us. It’s not my fault.” Rhiannon folded her arms across her chest, matter-of-factly.

“And do you know exactly what it means to be gay?”

Rhiannon hesitated at first and teased with a strand of her light hair while searching for what to say next. “It means….when he grows up he’s going to want to marry a boy and not a girl like daddy.”

A pleased smile spread across Mrs. Reese’s face after hearing the innocent answer. “That’s right. He’ll be like mommy instead.”

“So…it’s true?”

“It might be. Is that okay with you?”

Rhiannon took a quick glance at her baby brother, a few days older than six years. He was fuming in his chair with small tears forming in the corner of his eyes, convinced that she was trying to ruin his life. She turned to her father who was just starting to grasp the situation and even to her little sister beside her before meeting her mother’s serious yet warm gaze again.

“I guess.” She shrugged a little embarrassed to have even brought it up.

“No fair. I want to be like mommy. I want to be gay, too!” Denna complained in a high pitched wail, desperate to be a part of the moment.

A lighthearted laughter escaped from Mrs. Reese and her husband. Their most important memories usually went by without them realizing how special they would be. But that was one of the times that they could feel their entire body ache, trying desperately to rebel against time. To stay in that moment for just a few more minutes.

“You see Rhi, Declan can be whatever he wants to be. There’s nothing he can do that’s ever going to make us love him any less. The same goes for you and you sister. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“Don’t ever let him believe that being himself is a bad thing, ok? People are going to give him enough shit about it as he gets older, you don’t have to be one of them.”

Rhiannon knew her father was serious. Very seldom did their parents use swear words to them. “I won’t be.”