what's the deal with the blog title?

It was the summer of 1999. Fatboy Slim was on the radio, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ was on TV, and Hilary Swank won an Oscar for her portrayal of a transgender teen*. We were stockpiling water in our basement in anticipation of Y2K (yes, really). It was a simpler time, a time when people said “whazzuuup” when they answered the phone (I actually still do that). There was a little peanut growing inside my uterus (not an ACTUAL legume, but that’s what we called the baby because that’s what it looked like in the very first ultrasound). I couldn’t wait to find out if it was a boy peanut or a girl peanut.

Unfortunately after three ultrasounds, I was still no closer to finding out the baby's gender. A friend told me if I drank some orange juice or ate jelly beans shortly before my next ultrasound, the baby would be all hopped up on sugar** and moving around enough to get a good view.  Never known to do things by halves, I gorged on Jelly Bellies and downed some OJ.  Obviously.

Well it did the trick, only too well.  The baby was flipping and flopping all over the place. The technician announced, “This baby is WILD!  And STUBBORN!”  I walked out of yet another appointment not knowing if I should call the baby 'he' or 'she'. I was stuck with the gender-neutral Peanut*, for the time being.  But I had been so excited to share the news with our friends that they had asked me to call them right after the appointment so they could bring a color-coordinated cake to our house to celebrate. They were already at the grocery store when I shared the news and they told me they would take care of it.

When they arrived, they revealed the perfect cake for the occasion, not having any inkling that it would be the perfect image to use for the second announcement of our child’s arrival, 15 years later.

You guys. It’s a RAINBOW CAKE, the universal symbol for the LGBT community. It says “It’s a . . .”, the implication being that the gender is to be determined.

In 1999, a tiny baby girl joined my family. Or so I thought. It turns out I jumped the gun a little bit. 

Here and now, in January 2015, I am the proud parent of a bouncing teenaged genderfluid dude who uses he/him/his pronouns.  I’m gonna call him E on this blog, cos that’s his first initial. As of now, he is only out to a couple of friends. We have our first appointment at the trans clinic in two days. This is where I’m gonna talk about stuff.  Buckle up.

*ooohhhh, foreshadowing

**possible cause of juvenile diabetes, diagnosed in 2009?^

^this is a joke