As Proud As Can Be

[Jorja]

As some of you might remember, I do a lot of work with Transgender youth. That can be anything from just lending an ear to listen to providing a place to live. At any given time there can be 4 or 5 kids that I have opened my home to after their parents have kicked out of the family home.

Tonight I am sitting here proud as can be of two of my girls. Last weekend Annie, graduated from Ohio University and yesterday (Sunday) Jennifer, graduated from Ohio State University. Both have already been hired in their field (medical) and will start their new jobs next week.

Knowing how these two started out in life, I am amazed how things have turned out for them. I am just so proud of these girls, I just had to tell someone.

[Marleena]

Yes, you should be proud of them Jorja because it is awesome news. You gave them a chance their own parents didn't and they thrived. We need more people like you Jorja.:)

[kimdl93]

You not only are entitled to feel justifiable pride...you deserve the gratitude of society as a whole for helping these kids. I admire and respect your efforts.

[Andy66]

Awesome, Jorja. I dont understand how their parents could have kicked them out of their homes. So sad. Im glad you were there for the girls.

[Eryn]

Jorja, in a way these two young lades were lucky they were kicked out of their homes. It was only in that way that they could have encountered you, and their academic achievement shows that you are a wonderful parent.

[marshalynn]

Jorja, great job the girls did so far with their lives, they are only following wonderful leadership by you, I am very proud of all three of you. Marshalynn

[bridget thronton]

My congratulations to them both

[Rhonda Jean]

A couple of thoughts...

One is how their world opened up when they found true acceptance.

The other is how through openness without guilt and shame their gender issues became a smaller, less overriding part of their lives. For many of us our gender issues are all-consuming. Obviously not for these girls. Quite a testament for allowing children to be themselves, even when it doesn't fit into a nice neat little box.

Good job, Jorja.

[I Am Paula]

Great work Jorja. You must be very proud. Every day I read about a trans kid thrown out of their home, and potentially working the streets. That's no way for a kid to live. Keep it up, we need more like you.

[Bria]

Jorja, thank you for letting us know. You are completely justified in bragging just a bit!!

I hope that you consider these two young women (and the others that you have mentored) to be daughters, and they consider you to be a mother to them. When my wife moved from the east coast to Kansas in the middle 60s, she worked with a lady that she called her Kansas Mother. My wife was probably closer to this lady than to her own mother. Teaching by example is one of the most important things for young people during their formative years. Parents that do not provide positive examples for their children are the cause of many wasted lives, my little soap box!!

Jorja, I hope that you have many more similar experiences in the future.

Yah Yah Yah, Jorja!

Hugs, Bria

[Jorja]

These two girls are not my first and hopefully not my last girls to see all the way through college. In total, there are 10 others. All the others were nice but Annie and Jennifer, I have a special connection with. They were the youngest girls at 12 years old that I have ever taken in. There were many hair pulling moments with these girls and many days I just wanted to go to their parents and beat the crap out of them.

You are correct Rhonda Jean, their world did open up when they found true acceptance. From the moment they arrived they were allowed to be the person they needed to be. There is no shame or guilt. They have no GD and have very few if any issues with their gender. I know Annie plans on having GRS in the near future. Jennifer hasn't said, so I really do not know her plans. I think she just wants to settle in and get on with life for awhile. I am sure she will cross that bridge when she gets to it.

[Meghan4now]

Jorja,

That's a special calling and one so needed. I have friends that are deep into the foster community down here in SW Ohio. My wife and kids and I regularly volunteer to help a local co-op. Just even being there for that type of support for any orphaned or foster kid is lacking let alone LGBT issues. When the kids are too old to be cute, the options go way down. And as you know, the population of homeless kids is skewed toward the LGBT population due to lack of acceptance at home.

My wife often wonders about doing more. Soon we'll be empty nester ' s (I hope). It might be good to learn how to make a difference. Who knows, maybe that's why I was made the way I am and walked into this particular room?

PM me some time.

[Tina955]

Jorja, you are truly an earth Angel. And you surely have secured your spot as one of heavens Angels. What you are doing for these young people is immeasurable. Keep up the good work.

Tina

[emma5410]

I have always admired you Jorja but now I realise just how special you are. The difference you have made to so many young lives is wonderful. At times the world can seem to be such a dark place but every so often a light shines.

[Katey888]

Awesome is the right word... :D

Truly inspirational... and just so... good of you! :cheer:

Katey x

[charlenesomeone]

Justifiably proud, both of them and you too.
Wonderful.

[Megan G]

You have a good reason to be proud!! You truly are an angel..

Megan..

[Leah Lynn]

Jorja, you are truly an Angel! You have every right to be proud of these girls and of yourself as well. Congratulations to these young ladies and to you.

Hugs,

Leah

[Jorja]

Before anyone starts thinking I am Mother Teresa reincarnated or something, let me explain. When I was 14 my father beat the holy hell out of me and told me to get out of his house. From the time I was 4 or 5 years old, I had insisted I was a girl. He had enough of it.

I spent the next year out on the streets of Honolulu. Being transgender I paid a heavy price. I was beat and sexually abused almost everyday as soon as someone figured me out. I would fight back but when it is four or five on one there wasn't much of a chance.

One day, a very nice older lady came along and rescued me. I call her Grandma Tita. She took me in and cared for me like her own. She understood my problem and allowed me to be myself. She taught me so very much about life and how to handle myself. She made sure I got my education. Before leaving her home, I asked how could I ever repay her. She told me to pay it forward when I reached a place in life where I could.

About 15 years ago I felt I had reached that place in life. So I have been doing as Grandma Tita asked. I have been trying to pay it forward. She is turning 100 years young in a couple of months. Come hell or high water, you can bet I will be there to thank her once again for saving my life and to let her know I am indeed paying it forward and all I ask of my girls is that they pay it forward too.

[S. Lisa Smith]

We are proud of you!!!!!

[Tora]

Well done...Bravo. To guide a young person in need, is on the top of Special .

[steftoday]

You are awesome Jorja. Thanks for what you do.

[Kris Avery]

I'm adopted myself, so, I went to pieces reading all this.
You have a special place in my heart girl.

[PretzelGirl]

Well, magic happens when you put your foot up someones ass. ;) Oh hold it. That foot is for the parents.

You and Grandma Tita are total angels Jorja. If each of those girls remember the same lesson, the amount of lives impacted is immense. A great lesson about life and how we should be living it.

[Starling]

Wow, Jorja. Just wow.

:) Lallie

[Karen62]

Jorja, Grandma Tita gave you a second chance to live your authentic life (once you eventually left the service, as I recall), and you have gone on to repay that debt at least 10 times over. You can deny the Mother Teresa comparison, fine. But Mother Jorja lives on, not only in the hearts of those young women to whom you've also given a second chance at an authentic life, but also in the hearts of all of us here as well by your example. I know I am proud of the Annie and Jennifer for their brag-worthy success, but I am also really proud of you. A heartfelt thank you from me to you for just being the woman that you are.

Love and affection,

Karen

[phylis anne]

Well done Jorja Grandma Tita would be very proud of you and the greater reward you may live long enought o see is that all of the girls you have helped will also pay foward in some way
hugs phylis

[Marleena]

Society still has a long ways to go. It's really a sad state of affairs when parents discard their own children for being "different". Luckily there are people like Tita and now Jorja that give these kids a chance at a good life despite being TG/TS. Jorja's kids and of course Jorja are proof that they can be productive members of society despite the stigma attached of being "trans".

[Amy Fakley]

Reading this thread has been such an inspiration!
Jorja, congratulations to your girls, and congratulations to you as well.

It occurs to me that for each of these hateful, self-centered, myopic parents YOU stepped in and did the damn work they refused to do. And I'll bet it wasn't easy work either. That is love. Real love, not the talking kind.

So when you hear people who would preach love with a twist of hate ... those talking heads who are continuously rationalizing hate for people who are different, as "love for family values" or "love of cultural tradition" or whatever .... well just remember who talked the talk, and who rolled up their sleeves and did the work.

[franchesca]

Awesome job Jorja! You're an inspiration and a shero to us all!!!

[Eringirl]

I can only say thank you. Thank you for being a survivor and accepting help from others (Grandma Tita), Thank you for extended the tradition and bringing those girls into your home. You made their lives possible. Thank you for sharing this story with us. Tremendously heart warming and made me proud to be a part of this forum.

Erin

[Bria]

Jorja, now you went and made me cry hearing your story about Grandma Tita and yourself as a teenager. You may not be Mother Teresa, but you sure as hell are Grandma Jorja. May all sorts of blessing come your way, you deserve every one of them!!!

Hugs, Bria

[Rachel Smith]

Ya gotta love a story that makes you cry. Grandma Tita is proud of the girl she raised just as you are and rightfully so on both parts.

[Barbara Ella]

Such a happy moment. Thank you so very much for making the lives of these sisters so much better.

Barbara

[DebbieL]

Jorja,
I know how much you have helped so many people on this forum (including me), and I remember the struggles I had when I was growing up. My parents were very loving and very caring, but they had been told by a psychiatrist that I would have to be treated with severe methods (shock, lobotomy) if I persisted in the delusion of thinking I was a girl. Of course, that was back in 1960.

I so wish I had had someone like you to talk to. My parents were loving and understanding, but they took a "don't ask don't tell" position. There were times when I would pretend to be sleeping, with my spaghetti straps showing as my mom or dad tucked me in when they came home, and yet they wouldn't say a word. About the closest they came to supporting me was when mom and I were the same size. Mom asked if I wanted to go clothes shopping and I jumped at the chance. I helped her to pick out a more up-to-date wardrobe, and then after she wore some items for a few weeks she would put them in the "goodwill bag". I could take anything I wanted out of that bag, and I could keep any pantyhose that had a knot in them - even though many knotted ones were in perfect condition.

Mom also encouraged me being the housewife, so I got very good a cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, sewing, I could even knit and crochet. When I was 12, I would babysit my little brother and sister. Essentially in everything BUT the wardrobe, I acted like a girl, and chose to do so. We could volunteer for chores, and I took most of the indoor housework chores. I still had to mow the lawn, which I hated, but my younger siblings liked to be outdoors, so they did the rest of the outdoor stuff. My dad used to say "One day you'll marry a rich lady doctor and be her perfect wife". The smile on my face when he said it was obvious.

Thank goodness the laws and medical practice have come so far. Even in the last 15 years it seems like there has been a quantum leap in the acceptance and tolerance of transgender people. People are downright nice most of the time. I think I've heard 5 rude comments in the last 4 years.

[flatlander_48]

Knowing how these two started out in life, I am amazed how things have turned out for them. I am just so proud of these girls, I just had to tell someone.

For them, and you:

"Living Well Is The Best Revenge..." (George Herbert)

DeeAnn

[Leanne2]

Jorja, What Starling said! I wish I could meet you in person so I could give you the "Biggest Hug Ever!" (spoken like a valley girl with emphasis on the word ever) We should coin a new phrase about what you do. We can call it " Trans-Foster care." Yes! That's it. Lets start Trans-foster care all over this country to give transgender kids a chance. How about it girls?........................Leanne

[donnalee]

Jorja, that's wonderful news; even more when you consider that this is the 10th kid to do this!
It is really great to hear that someone is willing to step forward and rescue an abandoned child in this way and totally reprehensible
that someone would act like this toward their own child. The mind reels at such unthinking cruelty.

[Jorja]

Thank you for all of your comments.

While you and I find it totally reprehensible that someone would act like this toward their own child, these are the better cases. Some are treated even worse. Times are changing. More parents are seeing that being transgender isn't as terrible as it once was. Yet, there are still a few that will never change.

I am just glad I am able to catch a few cases and make a difference in their lives. I wish I could help in every transgender life.