About two and a half years ago my youngest child, my fourth, announced that she was transgender and intended to live life as a male. She was not quite seventeen. I was shocked. I jumped right into denial. There were no signs.

Life became a whirlwind of tension, research, confusion, and therapy; none of which proved to be productive, at least not for me. The tension was unbearable. The research just added to the confusion. Therapy seemed to offer no help, although it did seem to add to the tension and confusion.

After two years it became clear that my emotional survival was up to me. And my relationship with Tristan, my fourth child who used to be Anna, was up to me. I had been in survival mode for two years, It was time to step up my emotional game. So, I did a thing. I started to write. I wrote my thoughts, my memories, my feelings. And then, one day, I had written a book.

When He Was Anna; A Mom’s Journey Into the Transgender World is my no BS tale of a clueless mom who finds herself trying to navigate life as the mom of a transgender child. And in a few months it will be out there as a real live published book. It’s raw and often politically incorrect. But, it’s honest. And it’s me.