I just wanted to say a general thanks to the people of this forum. After quite a few long years of knowing I needed to say it at some point but never really feeling like I had a good reason to in addition to being uncomfortable with the topic, I finally came out to my dad last night. It wasn't as big and dramatic as some stories may be because I determined a pretty long time ago that it wouldn't be a problem for him, and I also turned out to be right in thinking he suspected me for a while. The more important part of it to me, though, was him finally knowing me better. We've been having some good conversations for a while about me and my life, but I think hiding things made it more difficult for him to help me. Once I decided I was going to come out, I knew it would be one of those conversations, and it was. It surprised me to hear him say that he often didn't feel like he really knew me at all (on the subject of lifestyle, anyway). He listed a bunch of possibilities about what I could be and said if he had to guess he would have no idea which one he'd guess. So I figured it'd be then or never and told him what the deal was. It was nice to be able to explain the words hetero/bi/homoromantic, and I wouldn't have known about those terms without coming here. Anyway, he's known I've been depressed on and off for a while and he'd been trying to get me to say more for my sake, and now that I have I think I'm going to start feeling much better. It's also good to know I have his support for whenever I may deal with my mom, whom I've always felt a little guilty about telling because, while I know she would accept me, she's always assumed I'd live the way most of my family has and get married to a woman and have kids and whatnot. Even though it's obvious to me that it's becoming clear to her that that's not going to happen, she still just seems in denial sometimes. She also tends to get emotional, which doesn't help. I've always tried so hard never to disappoint either of them in any way, and I haven't, so that's a little hard for me, but as my dad said last night, I can't live for other people and I can't let that stop me from being and living for me. It feels like so much weight has been lifted off of my shoulders after hearing that. So overall, thanks, EC. I think coming here and having people to talk to who could identify with me was an important last step in getting to the point I've wanted to get to for a long time. I hope to keep talking to people here. It's such a great help and I hope I can help others.
