Recently, I had a couple of conversations that I found very interesting. The first was with my brother, as we discussed our mutual past, current family issues, and how to protect our assets. The other with the newest member of our co-op board, where I outed myself to her and, discussed issues related to our co-op, and pleasantries regarding her father, grandfather, and great grandfather.
As I've mentioned before, my brother and I own a house we rent out to the best of tenants. Hopefully, they will stay our tenants for a long time, as this income is a blessing to have in uncertain times. Given that there is some maintenance that has been needed for a couple of years, we decided to take care of it before the weather gets cold. Once done talking about the house, we talked about our past, and I found that I didn't remember that my brother was in the car when I was taken to therapy as a child. I told him that I wish I could have given the notes from childhood therapy to my adult therapist. And he responded that my dad wanted to protect me from what I might see. Unfortunately, it should have been up to me to decide what happened to this information, and I wasn't given the chance to do so. This is the one complaint I have about my father. Eventually, we talked about his family and what he plans to do with his assets in his will. (I won't go into those details here.) Suffice it to say that I'd do the same things given his circumstances.
Once I was ready to go out, I stumbled into the new co-op board member. We discussed an important issue that the co-op must deal with, and we agreed on the scope of the issue. Hopefully, she will help me convince the other members of the board that this is an issue that can not be put off much longer. Next, we discussed family issues, and I mentioned some things about the recent past. Specifically, that I saw her grandfather getting around on his scooter - and that I was happy that he was still active in his business. Given that the co-op board knows of my transgender nature, I opened up to her - and she said that I looked good as Marian. She couldn't believe it was me in the picture. This way, if I come into a zoom meeting a little bit late, she won't get shocked at my appearance.
On the whole, I'm happy about these conversations, as it allowed for certain things to be said that needed to be said. There was no hinting or guessing at what the other person meant. These were some of the most effective chats I've had in a while. And I'm very glad that I took the time out to have these chats....
