#We Want To Do The Talking

I am the Same Person

The doorbell rang. Susan, at the familiar sound, sat up in her bed to look at the time. The clock on her bedside table had its shorter hand right between 1 and 2, and the longer hand pointing directly at 6. Punctual as usual, she already knew who was at that door. Thanksgiving dinners were always an elaborate affair, and her aunt without fail, made it her mission, to come early and ensure she "helped out", which by now the entire family recognised as her attempts to regain control of this holiday after the turkey tantrum of '07. The rest of the guests would soon follow in the next few hours.

She heard her mum and dad at the door, welcoming in Aunt Marilyn, with their nicest tones possible. Susan however, was not with them, or more specifically, not permitted to come. Her parents didn't have anything against her, in their mind they were simply trying to protect her, for recently sensation had struck the Adams family. It had almost been a year since she took the bold move of coming out to her family. She had promised herself, that as the clock struck midnight, and everyone screamed "Happy New Year" that she would tell them the truth about herself, she had known this family for 15 years, and she no longer felt the need to hide her actual feelings, from those who she loved. Little did she know it would all go wrong.

Everyone had been having an excellent time, her uncle Leo, was sprawled on the couch, as drunk as can be, running his mouth on his "adventurous past", earning him a lot of nudges and forced smiling from his wife. After a very long and heartfelt pep talk that she had given herself, she raised her champagne glass filled with apple juice and began speaking. "Ladies and Gentlemen", she began, her voice rich with gravitas, necessary to capture the attention of her audience. The second the adults stopped speaking, the children followed in suit. 

Before she could say anything of importance, lovely uncle Leo, began his rant of boos and called for a song instead. In response, he received a sharp blow to the back of his head, which caused him to almost instantly shut up.

She clinked her glass, "Like I was trying to say, my dear family, I hope you all realize how much I love you." Her mum rested her hand against her daughter's back as if to say I support you in everything. Both her mum and dad were already aware of what she was going to say, because she viewed them as the two most important people in her life, and coming out to them in a group, with members such as Aunt Marylin just didn't seem right. "It is for that same reason, that I don't feel like I need to hide anything from you. For you see, I have a secret that I have kept buried for a long time. I'm bi. The awkward silence that followed practically broke Susan's heart. It isn't easy taking a leap like this, and when one does it takes a lot of courage. 

That was her last memory of that night, even though guests stayed for another 2 hours after that, acting as if nothing had happened.

Her parents had spoken to her earlier, this was the first time the whole family were meeting after her courageous announcement last time. They knew that this might result in being a hostile territory and therefore had asked her to stay in her room.

She scrolled through her phone, she was honestly really angry. By now, everyone had shown up, and although they didn't know, she could hear them loud and clear. They knew she was absent, but no one said anything. Her younger cousin did once inquire about her but was sushed by his mum, who sat right beside him. 

Dinner continued for a whole full hour before Susan, made a decision to do something about her current predicament. She would have to disobey her parents, but she felt that her family was in need of a lesson.

She entered the kitchen, where conveniently everyone was present. Her younger cousin noticed her first, and caught her in a quick embrace, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room. Her parents looked at each other, considering intervening to prevent large conflict, but upon noticing the stern expression on her face, decided otherwise.

"Hello Dear", began aunt Marylin, "I didn't expect to see you here today, is everything all right?"

The reaction from Susan was practically instant.

"No, unfortunately, I can't quite say that" in a tone that matched that of her aunt. "You see, I fear, that those whom I once cherished most dearly, seemed to have abandoned me in my time of need", she looked down at her cousin, and quickly corrected herself "Most of them have at least". 

The adults, knowing exactly what she was talking about, chose to let her keep talking.

"Last year, I made a gigantic step in understanding who I am. I paid no heed to the risks, because I had more faith, in my family, which ultimately did me harm. I don't know why it was so hard, for you guys to understand and accept me for who I am, for I am no different than I ever was. I don't know why, there was ever doubt on your mind, but you certainly didn't say the right thing, more importantly, you didn't say anything.

"Well Dear" her aunt began "What would you have wanted us to say?"

"You know what, I'm going to tell you exactly what you could have said: Thank you for telling us Susan, and please know that we love you, and always will."

"Because ultimately, I am the same person, and I deserve to be treated with the same amount of love and respect, my sexuality should never have come in the way of that."

#WeWantToDoTheTalking