Caught in Transition by Virginia May Read Free Book Online

just deflated. After a small lunch and some pain medication she was off to sleep.

    My friends and family were quite often mentioning how brave and courageous I was, but that ’ s not how I felt. Most of the time I felt scared and apprehensive, and hoped that the love the two of us shared would be enough to whether all the changes taking place.
      
    The next couple of days went by with a feeding, cleaning and massaging routine in place. When Sheelagh rested I went out to the Jewel-Osco supermarket and bought groceries and had her prescription for Vicodin filled. Finally we made it to February 9 th , and Sheelagh was going to the clinic to get the staples taken out of the incision in her forehead. It sounded worse than it was and the best part (and the scariest for me) was that we were leaving for home the next day.  

    Antonio

    I had to use the hotel’s shuttle for everything from grocery shopping to picking up prescriptions. I saw the same people there day after day and I became friends with a few of them. One of the young fellows who drove the shuttle was quite nice. He was twenty one years old and told me all about his family and his want to go to school. Unfortunately he had to work to bring money in because his father was gone and his mother was sick. One day he actually said to me, “ I hope you don ’ t mind my saying this but we ’ ve had women here for girls nights out and things, but they never looked at each other like you and Sheelagh do. ”  

    I said, “ Maybe that ’ s because they were friends but Sheelagh and I are married. ”  

    He thought about that for a moment and then told me he didn ’ t believe in homosexuality because he was a good Christian. He also asked me if I was afraid I wouldn ’ t get into heaven when I died. The whole conversation seemed a little surreal so I just said that my god is a loving and forgiving god and I don ’ t have any worries. He then smiled at me and said that I was a very nice person with a kind heart, even if I was gay.  

    Returning Home

    At the end of our two week stay there, Antonio made a point of coming to say goodbye to us both, and to wish Sheelagh a quick recovery. To this day I think of him and wonder if maybe he is able to see gay people not as an abomination against his religion, but as people who can be kind with good hearts.  

    Having been with Sheelagh for so many years before she began transitioning, I was used to being looked after by a man and helped through airports. This time I was the one in charge. I didn ’ t sleep well the night before imagining all the terrible things that could go wrong; like getting lost, Sheelagh fainting, dealing with all the stares of strangers wondering who had beaten up the poor woman. I even believed that if she got on that plane she would have an embolism. When morning came I think I was the one who could have used the Lorazepam!  

    The car service picked us up and took us to O ’ Hare airport. I had called ahead and we were met by an airport employee with a wheelchair - that was a huge relief - now if Sheelagh fainted she wouldn ’ t hurt herself. I kept Sheelagh hydrated and medicated because this trip was extremely hard on her. She made it through the flight mostly by sleeping and she didn ’ t even die of an embolism – things went well.  

    We landed in Toronto and we were met at the gate by another employee with a wheelchair. That was the only time we breezed through customs, who knew that people in wheelchairs didn ’ t have to wait in line! The baggage claim was the worst experience because I had to lift two heavy suitcases off of the luggage carousel – luckily a kind man showed up and helped me lift the second one. Once all the luggage was corralled, the employee took us right outside, hailed a taxi and helped Sheelagh into it. This was absolutely wonderful because by this time I was feeling totally overwhelmed.  

    We took the taxi to the hotel where we had left our car. I loaded