Your grandmother and mine were about the same age, and I’m reminded that I never once saw her in a skirt or dress. Formal dress up for her was a powder-blue pants suit.

My grandmother was actually fiercely supportive of me when I came out, really the only member of my family who was. Or at least the only one who was outspoken about it.

Maybe that underlines something of a point you’re making with your story here. Generational differences don’t always add up to what we think they do. Vocabularies change and understandings progress, but people have always been around who understand gender and sexual variance, which are not new things under the sun.

I don’t know when your grandmother immigrated, but if she lived in Germany during the 1920s, she probably had a pretty good idea when transgender meant, even if she didn’t have the words for it we do today.

What’s really great about today’s world is that we’re moving from understanding toward more general acceptance and celebration.

Here’s to keeping that forward movement going!