One of my favorite stories to tell about my mom is when I came out to my mom in 7^th grade, over a weekend trip.

We went to Charleston, and I had planned on doing it, but I was really nervous, obviously. And so, I spent a lot of that weekend just acting really weird. I guess I don’t think I was acting that weird, but clearly my mom knew, and she asked me all weekend, like, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” And I would not tell her anything.

We’d been walking around King Street and stuff that day. And so, she took us back to our little hotel room, and she cracked open a Bud Light, which is the first time I’ve ever seen her drink. And she’s like, “You’re gonna tell me what’s wrong right now.” And it was an awful moment, but it was really funny.

See, I told her, obviously, and then she started laughing. She’s like, “Oh, I thought you were pregnant.”

Yeah, it was funny now, but I learned to trust her a bit more. Also, she’s very dramatic. I learned that she’s a Leo.  But I think trusting her a bit more was the biggest thing I took away from that. And there’s nothing I can really do that’ll freak her out too much.