Alice’s story | “I spent my teenage years proving to him that I am worth loving.”

by Them Before Us | Feb 5, 2020 | EXPORT, Stories

This was the day when my world fell apart. I was only 7 years old. It was early summer. My father was away for 2 weeks with his band and I was waiting for him to come home. My 10 year old cousin was over at our house that day. I remember my father approaching so we...

Joshua Hewitt’s story | “Some say that the transgender woman who was my Dad will always be my father. There is no truth in this for me.”

by Them Before Us | Jan 29, 2020 | EXPORT, Stories

Twenty one years ago I lost my father. The hardest part of losing him is that he didn’t die. One day he walked out the door and never returned. Sometimes I allow myself to imagine how much easier it would have been if he had died. My grief would have welled to the...

Kathryn Francisco’s story | “It’s okay to believe that the method of your conception was wrong and still give thanks for your life.”

by Them Before Us | Jan 21, 2020 | Stories

It’s such a vivid memory. One day, when I was about fourteen, I was riding in the car with my dad, and we were talking about ancestry. I was very curious about my roots. When I asked him what percentage Cherokee we were, he gave an odd response. I said, “If you’re...

Rashell’s story | “I can say with 100% certainty that my life would have been so much easier had my parents just stuck it out.”

by Them Before Us | Jan 21, 2020 | EXPORT, Stories

My parents were young when they married. They were both 17. My mother was still in high school and pregnant. She graduated but my dad didn’t. He worked in the oilfield in Oklahoma and made great money when times were good. I was their only child. I’m 41...

Moira Greyland’s story | “I was born into a family of famous gay pagan authors in the late Sixties.”

by Them Before Us | Nov 19, 2019 | EXPORT, Stories

I was born into a family of famous gay pagan authors in the late Sixties. My mother was Marion Zimmer Bradley, and my father was Walter Breen. Between them, they wrote over 100 books: my mother wrote science fiction and fantasy (Mists of Avalon), and my father wrote...

Vladimir’s story | “There are times when I still struggle with depression, anxiety, and self-hatred. There are also times when I wonder if I have any capacity to love.”

by Them Before Us | Oct 3, 2019 | EXPORT, Stories

My father has been married five times. My mother was his second wife. According to my father, I am responsible for the destruction of his third and fourth marriages because “I had not accepted the death of my mother.” I only have one memory of my birth mother. For...