By Laurie Wolfe
I’m reclaiming the word Sissy.
We reclaimed Queer; well, others did, and it was such a brilliant thing.
But sissy; well, sissy still sounds a bit harsh to my brain.
So, now, I’m reclaiming sissy.
I’m reclaiming it cause it’s the right thing to do.
And, being old; well, I’m sure you’ve heard that canard,
old people don’t care what others think.
At least, I’ve given up on caring about what they think
about the word sissy.
Not just because it was the word I had to avoid
as a child.
Mostly, because when I was in my chiropractor’s office,
I was talking with another woman. I was there to get fixed up
on the heels of another visit to the hospital
after having had another little stroke.
We were two old ladies commiserating about needing extra care,
and I was just about to say aging ain’t for sissies,
when I realized this wasn’t inclusive, or fair to myself.
And I found myself saying, instead,
I want a t-shirt that says
Aging is for Sissies, too.
That was the only word we had as a child that I knew.
And I never, ever wanted anyone to know that.
It was dangerous to be a sissy then.
A boy who liked girl things, wanted girl things;
wanted to be a girl.
The world didn’t have the words. The culture.
It didn’t have me.
And,
I wasn’t there
in that world.
The woman I was speaking with at the office
laughed. She got the whole thing.
And then she shared about moving
into a residence that has a large population
of LGBTQ folks (20%!),
and then, she told me about her wife.
Aging is good,
Because we get to have peace, or make peace with ourselves
if not the world. With our beginnings,
our middles, our endings.
And we make friends
we find others who accept us
as much as we
accept ourselves.
Laurie Wolfe lives near Boston, Massachusetts, USA and is bi, queer, trans, femme, nerd, and spiritual. She believes we come from the universe, and we co-create with it. That people (animals, nature) are all part of our story. “Write a good one, please, and, thank you for being kind, and loving.”
Artist Statement: When I first considered writing for this issue about aging, I was thinking how we don’t know when we’re newly arrived, or thereafter, that the world will grow with us, and vice versa. Now that I’m older, I see how the beginning of my life goes with the middle, and the end. It’s kinda like reading a novel, or as I wrote in an earlier form, like Babylon 5, a sci-fi series. Except, it’s all about life, not fiction. Also, the events I wrote about occurred very recently, which provided me with another way to touch on this idea.