In the Parler café about fifty metres from the Wilson. Having a large almond croissant and a middling mocha. Drinks here are served in handleless cups which I'm not fond of but otherwise it's a comfortable place.
The day started well with a visit from the man who recognized me in the gallery. Slightly rushed because he was sneaking an hour off work but satisfying nonetheless.
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Today is my last full day in Cheltenham, off to Paignton for a few days tomorrow and then to Cornwall to spend a few days with my sister.
It can only be a few days because she has a hospital appointment next week. It wasn't until we spoke on MS Teams a couple of days ago that I understood that she has cancer. I've had to do a lot of reading between the lines because she talks as though I should know all about what has happened even though it is many months since we last spoke.
@ninalanyon Oh well that's off then. My sister's oncologist called to say she has a free slot next Monday which is right in the middle of the time my sister was going to join me in Cornwall. It's too far for her to travel just for one night so it looks like I'll have a week in a huge holiday home by myself.
@ninalanyon Cancer is still a very scary diagnosis to get. From your posts etc I know you have a difficult relationship with your sister, and I can't imagine this will improve things, but you never know. That it will delay you coming out to her is perhaps more of a problem in the short term as it may affect your coming out to others.
@22Michelle I think I'll just stay on in England a bit longer than expected in the hope that we can get together before I have to go home. It's really that I feel I should come out to her before my school friends, and them before my ex-colleagues. I really don't know exactly why I feel that way, I just feel there is a sort of hierarchy in these things. It's surely just a formality because anyone who has observed me at all over than last few years must have noticed something even if they aren't sure exactly what but I want to get it out of the way.
@ninalanyon It can feel odd why you feel you have to come out at all, and / or that it has to be done in some form of hierarchy. However, if this is how you feel you need to do it than that's how it is.
@22Michelle The thing is that I no longer wear male clothes so one day I will meet family or friends en femme. I'd just rather that it doesn't happen unexpectedly. Unexpectedly for me of course. I want to be sure I'm in the right frame of mind when it happens in case the reaction isn't as positive as I'd like so that I'm not caught off guard.
@ninalanyon I understand what you're saying. You can never know how you and other people might react to an unexpected meeting, and what might be said in the heat of the moment. Whatever your feelings on your right to dress as you wish, your sexuality etc., you don't want to thrust it on friends and family who may need some time to understand and accept you as you are. What may be said, and later regretted, in the heat of the moment may cause far larger rifts than the reality of how some people feel about Nina the person.
