My coming out story was never anything I’d really thought about before. I didn’t have a plan or an idea or time frame for when I wanted it to happen. I knew my family would find out one day but I just continued to push it off as if I had a never ending timeline and could avoid it.
I knew I was attracted to girls from a young age but did not realise it was a real thing or option until I was about 15. From the time I was 15 until I was 25 I managed to keep it a secret from my siblings and my family. To my friends (most of them) and all throughout college I was openly dating girls but some how I thought I was invincible and that my family wouldn’t find out.
I always knew I’d get married to a woman but once again I never thought about how I would actually tell them. I got engaged to my amazing girlfriend in Atlanta where she proposed to me in front of all of our friends. I didn’t think twice about posting our engagement photo on Instagram and Facebook.
“My heart sank, I think she found out”
Like I said my parents didn’t have social media and so how would they find out? Well this is where it starts to get interesting. The next day at work I get a text from my mom saying we need to talk, I also get a text from my sister saying I need to call mom. My heart sank, I think she found out. I called her and at first I acted as if I knew nothing. Then I asked her what she was doing, apparently she was at the park with my sister.
She found out, she started to cry on the phone and told me she found out from a co-worker. Apparently that person saw my photo and asked my mom if she was happy about my engagement. Of course my mom knew nothing about it and then she gets shown the picture. I don’t know what I was more upset about, the fact that she was crying, that she saw I was engaged or that I didn’t tell her myself.
She suggested I tell my dad myself before he finds out from someone else. This was definitely not a conversation to have on the phone. I left work early that day and immediately drove 4 hours home. I didn’t know what to say or how I was going to say it but I had 4 hours to think about it.
“I went from being his straight heterosexual daughter to being engaged to a woman”
When I got there my dad had no idea I was coming home. I surprised him with a puffy face and red eyes and I hugged his neck and told him we needed to talk. Then myself my mom and dad sat down and that’s when I told him. I went from being his straight heterosexual daughter to being engaged to a woman.
He had no idea, for them it came out of nowhere and I was pretty shocked. I always thought they had an idea but apparently not. We talked, we cried and by the end of it all they were hugging me. That doesn’t mean he was okay with it. He absolutely didn’t approve but I told him that I am who I am and I have never changed. They still love me which is all I cared about.
My dad never ended up coming to my wedding nor did my sisters. I still had an amazing wedding and my mom walked me down the aisle. It’s been three years and my family, whether or not they agree with it they still love me. They have accepted that I am happy.
