Encounters with a special customer into her shop, translated…
Last Mother’s Day, there were a couple who took along their young to our shop to find the book, “The Magical Journey of Rainbow Children: the Guide to Pregnancy for the Same-Sex Couples”, the two individuals were really into it, started flipping through the pages, I’d excitedly gone up to them, to introduce the book, “I’m so glad that someone came in to find this book, after all, this isn’t something that’s, found in the bookstores around town, it’s printed, with the donations of the Taiwanese Same-Sex Family Rights Foundation gathered from the public, in order to get the funding, they’d set the price of the book higher, but, it was, delicately designed, and very worthy of your time.”
in support, of LGBT rights, photo from online…
The two individuals smiled, “We know, the book has our stories, it’s just that for the sake of anonymity, the book didn’t use our real names.” That got me going, so, the main characters of the book had, visited my shop! I’d, originally wanted to keep the conversation flowing, but the two individual told me that their child is waiting in the car, and, like a storm, they’d paid me fast, and left.
Before I’d met Daddy Strong, loving children, I’d once thought, that if my economics permitted me to, I shall have a child on my own, or have a baby with the woman I was dating, and started collecting the information on the in vitro fertilization; and yet, this book had kept the records of nearly forty families lives, not only can this be a guide, for the same-sex marriage couples, it also offered those who are single, but wanted children, and the families who are having troubles having children, to gain a better understanding of the subject of having alternative means to have children, the law, sperm banks, and how to set up the supportive network after birth, along with all the information you would want to find.
what families look like now…photo from online
That wasn’t the end of the story thought, what excited me more came next. On the same day, Strong’s grandmother who called me CRAZY for my wanting to bring home my same-sex partner home for the holidays, took her break and came to Hualien, she was playing with Strong, and saw the woman who’d come, bought the book, then left, asked me curiously, “Why did they just buy the book and go?”, I’d suppressed that nerve inside, and explained to her, she’d questioned, “How would two women have babies?”, I’d told her, “There are the sperm banks!”, she’d then asked, “Then, how would you know who the sperms belonged to? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?” “It’s just like making a blood donation, those donors must go through a series of health examinations, to make sure they’re healthy, and that it’s, safe, before they’re, able to donate!” “Then, why would you donate a sperm?” “Of some, one of the spouses is infertile, or maybe, an unmarried woman wanted a child, then, a donor would be needed, of course, there are those like them, wanting their own child.”
My mother frowned lightly, with that uncertainty, but stated that she’d, understood, and let out a long, “Oh~~~”.
End of conversation, it’s as if, I can see my soul inside, finally relaxed, wiped out, fallen limp onto the floor, I’m truly glad, that Strong’s grandmother and I, both matured after the years, and are willing to, understand what one another is thinking of, through conversations.
So, this, is how the mother of the writer had, matured, she wasn’t keen on her daughter’s finding a sperm donor from before, because of the conservative era she was raised in, and yet now, the rights of the lesbian, gays, bisexuals, transgendered individuals are pushed forth, the woman became, more understanding, and this understanding still didn’t come overnight, it must’ve been slowly, coming into being through time.
Life, the Obstacle Course 