Not just for Wheaties….

 

Sometimes I can’t think of anything to write about and have to pull a topic out of my ear, and then there are times where my post is handed to me on a silver platter.

Diane Sawyer handed me my article –  on  a gold medal platter- today.

You knew this was coming, we all did (did we have a choice? – Like all competitive news  networks, Dateline has been advertising this sensational story for weeks).

Friday night, along with the rest of the world, I had my eyes glued to the Bruce Jenner interview.

Not for the reasons I initially thought I would- which were mainly out of sheer curiosity to see if this was really a publicity stunt or were all these nasty comedians accurate in their accusations during their monologues all this time (they were- and they should all apologize) but more so because I now have such an entirely different perspective  of him, or as he now prefers to be referred to as, of “her”.

For those of you who missed it, he shared with the world that he has been fighting this urge to be a woman his entire life. He knew from childhood that he wanted to be a girl and because of social pressures, among many other reasons, and just life as we know it, he felt forced to lead his life as a man whom, once in a while, would sneak into one of his 3 ex wives closets to don a dress.

 

Even if he didn’t tell us, it was quite clear that he is taking so many female hormones and that he is significantly more sensitive and emotional as an effect from them than he has ever been on any of his appearances on the Kardashians – regardless of how muck Kris would beat the crap out of his ego.

I was captivated by his honesty, his brevity, his very inspiring desire for freedom to live out the rest of his life the way he feels he is meant to be. But by far the highlight for me was at one point when Diane (whom incidentally came off as, disingenuous, insincere and almost mocking) asked him;

“Why now?” – implying that, at age 65, when most would argue that he is past his prime and his years of being a “hot” woman have gone.

She referred to him becoming a woman now at this age as his “pantsuit” years. Without missing a beat, (he had already explained the reason he waited this long to do what he wanted his entire life – was because he felt that he needed to wait until his kids were grown – which made me love his responsible, protective and mature nature even more) and agreed that now he would be wearing black pants, black heels and a white blouse (exactly what Diane was wearing).

 

Overall, I could not help myself from thinking as a I dozed off (Friday night happy hour makes me sleepy) that not only is this an all American hero because he won the 1976 Olympics, but more so because of how, 39 years later, him sharing “her” story- will change the world as we know it.

Lesson Learned:

We are who we are. Be all you can be and be it with pride. (Even if you have to do it in a pantsuit).