Visiting our son and his wife..

We recently stopped to visit our son and his wife...always a fun time.  And this was particularly so, since they have had a new baby - our first grandchild...a girl, and in the future we'll call her LM for privacy reasons.

On this trip, very little noteworthy happened.  However one relatively significant event came along.   A neighbor visited my son''s house, with a present for the new baby.  Daughter-in-law was not home, so I answered the door, and we chatted a bit before I introduced myself as her Father-in-Law.  She kept glancing down at my ankles - ostensibly at the kitty at my feet...or was it the polo, pantyhose, denim capris and fisherman sandals? And then she glanced back up at my hair.   Guess there was some sort of indecision or confusion going on in her noggin!

When they returned later in the evening to give D-I-L the present, the kids introduced us officially, and all seemed well.  No further stares...even though I was wearing shorts and pantyhose, this time with flats.  Maybe by then (8 PM) my beard shadow was pronounced enough to make my natal gender obvious?  There were no further glances noticed, and both seemed fine with my appearance.  Wonder if our son will update us on their questions?  (Probably not, since he often gets addressed as female from the back, because of his long hair, and knows that I do, as well.  But when he turns around, his full beard and mustache usually elicits an "oops, sorry Sir."   My expressed preference is to have no facial hair...

I was researching hotels for a possible future car event in the area, and chose to pull up and bobby-pin my hair into a ponytail, to go with my capri pants, pantyhose and flats, before meeting the hotel rep.  When I stopped in, both the desk clerk and sales rep addressed me as "Sir" even though I gave my now-female given name.  As some have suggested,  hair seems to be a major cue, perhaps more so than  clothes...

And the last event on the last day of our visit was to a local sight north of Nashville - Fontanel.  Those of you old enough to remember Barbara Mandrell may recognize that as the name of her former estate.  You'd be right.  D-I-L with the baby, my wife and I visited for lunch at one of the restaurants.  (Great food, by the way!)  And with me dressed as in the picture above, from the time we went in until the time we left, through 3 different buildings, we were "3 ladies with a baby."  Neither of the girls said anything to me about it...it is what it is.   That was nice.  

All too soon it was time to head back to our son's place...and preparing to leave our little baby granddaughter was really tough.  My wife and I both had tears in our eyes. She's a cute princess, and I melt when I'm holding her...   Nice thing is that she can grow up knowing men can have long hair, long nails, and generally look like a girl.  That's one more person, who won't hate us...

In closing, enjoy a picture of a Florida sunrise, in the Orlando area...

Mandy