My week began with some great news upon getting to school on Monday - it seems Amber had been suspended for her, well, behavior. I’m usually not the vindictive, petty type but it felt amazing to hear that! The week continued getting better as I spent more and more time with Luna, Chloe, Desiree, Abby, and Sarah as well, as I finally felt like I belonged for once!

Towards the middle of the week, after chatting with my sister and my mom, I decided to try out for the softball team. I’d always had an interest in baseball growing up, but I never could make the team for one reason nor another - whether it was because I was too lanky, or I didn’t play well with other boys, or my swings and throws were too “girly”. But now as a girl, none of those are problems anymore - I’m just another one of the girls. Figuring “what have I got to lose”, I bit the bullet and made it to the tryouts at school.

Wearing a sports bra my sister lent me, some gym shorts and a tank top, I walked up to see about 40 girls here to try out alongside me. The first thing we’re going to do, Mrs. Grace says, is grab a bat and take some swings in the batters box. I had the general motion down from my time in Little League, but I never was seemingly able to get my body to do what my brain told it to do. This time, however, it seemed every swing resulted in a hit. Given, the bat is wider, the ball is bigger and it moves slower, but it’s not like I had all the guy muscles I had before either. While I wasn’t hitting anything out of the park (I don’t think a girl my size would very often), almost everything I got I hit, and I hit clean. It only served to boost my confidence.

Next up was speed drills, which most sports that I’m aware of do. Again, whereas running never came naturally before, here, my brain and body were one, and while I wasn’t dominating, I was near the top of the list for running speed - again, surprising considering my short stature. Recovering from the sprint drills, I thanked myself for choosing a sport which encouraged short bursts of energy rather than stamina like track or soccer!

We had two more drills - catching and throwing. While my increased dexterity helped me, I was only average at fielding balls. Again, the same came with throwing. I was never going to outdo the girls five to seven inches taller than me. Regardless I put my effort in and felt proud of what I’d done, especially as someone who hadn’t played baseball or softball for quite a few years. I waited for my mom to pick me up after her job, when by the time we all got home, I heard a message left on the answering machine.

“Hello, Garcia family, Mrs. Grace here, message for Luna. After seeing your try out, I was really impressed with your contact and speed skills. While your fielding wasn’t amazing, I feel with the tools you’ve got, I can work with that, and so I’d like to offer you a position on the team as starting shortstop! Please let me know at school tomorrow what you think. Thanks again!” *BEEP*.

I got the spot.

HOLY SHIT I GOT THE SPOT!

I jumped up into my moms arms, almost knocking her over (you’re not that short, Luna), and couldn’t contain my excitement. I picked my phone out of my purse and immediately dialed up Lily.

*ring ring*

“Hello, this is Lily?”

“OH MY GOD LILY YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?”

“What is it?”

“I GOT THE STARTING POSITION AT SHORTSTOP FOR THE GIRLS SOFTBALL TEAM!”

“EEEEEEE!”

“AAAAAHHH it’s so amazing!”

“I’m so proud of you, Luna! We’ll have to talk more at school tomorrow”

— —

On Friday, my parents pull me out of school for the day, and tell me to get a nice outfit ready - why, I’m not immediately sure. That being said, any reason to get out of school is a good reason! I then hop into the car, before we pull in front of the big courthouse in downtown Maple Ridge, my dad leading me into the building. It’s then when I realize what this is.

A name change and gender change hearing.

Somehow though, I don’t think the judge is going to buy “I turned into a girl after a wish upon a star” as a valid reason. My brain starts crafting a believable storyline of a trans girl coming out, which I know no doubt my parents will help back up. Still, having to lie here, even a little white one, feels wrong.

We enter an elevator up near the top floor of the building, and walk to the courtroom, which is currently empty outside of a judge, who is a young black man wearing a fancy robe, and what I assume is a transcriber, a younger lady in a tweed coat at a funny looking machine.

“Please be seated”. And so I did.

“We’re here today to change the legal name and gender of Leo Gabriel Garcia, correct?”

“Correct” me, my mom and my dad say at once.

“And would you list your new full name?”

“Luna Gabrielle Garcia, your honor”

He then proceeded to ask me pretty standard questions, such as how long I’d been seeking treatment, where at, why we didn’t have full doctor documentation, and so on. The meeting overall took about 20 minutes at most, and ended with the lines I’d always wanted to hear.

“Well, it’s my duty to inform you that by the power invested in me as the judge of Maple Ridge County, I hereby declare you legally to be Luna Gabrelle Garcia, a female under the eyes of the law. Case dismissed, and I hope you have a wonderful day!” he said, a small smile at the end. I couldn’t help but jump into my parents arms and squeal! I never thought I’d be here, let alone so soon! But now I was Luna, legally, and nobody could take that away fro me!

That was one bullet dodged this week. It was time to see how the other would go.

— —

From the closet of clothes I’ve bought and been handed down by my sister, I chose a pale pink sleeveless dress, with a black buckled belt in front, along with a wide-brim hat and a pair of cork-heeled sandals. As I side them on, I laugh to myself slightly, thinking about how naturally walking in them came to me. Emma tried teaching me, but I apparently had it down better than she did!

I then hop into the backseat of the car with Emma, and nervously wait for us to arrive. I haven’t really had the opportunity to come out to ANYONE outside of my school, close family and my girlfriend, so this will be…interesting, to say the least.

The car pulls into my aunt’s driveway - we meet up at her place for Easter festivities every year, and the day just so happened to land on a warm one where I could wear this adorable outfit. I hop out of the car, straighten out my hat and un-wrinkle my dress before following my mom to the door. How she intends to explain this to everyone is beyond me.

*ding dong*. The door creaks open, to reveal my Aunt Susan - a middle aged woman with a blonde bob haircut, and excessive jewelry.

“Well hello there, Jennifer! So good to see you again, sis! And Miguel, hope everything’s well. Oh, and if it isn’t my niece Emma!”

And then she paused, for what was only one second but felt like thirty.

“Whose this here? One of Emma’s friends?” she inquired

“Um…”

“And where’s Leo?”

“Right here!” I feebly reply.

“Not funny, young lady. Now where is-“

“Susan” my mom says, putting her hand on my aunt’s shoulder “that IS Leo. I know it’s hard to believe, but that’s him. He’s a girl now, inside and out”

“Well…” Susan simply says, giving me a bit of a suspicious look as she lets us in. Most everyone who is going to be here already is, including all my other cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents from my mom’s side of the family. Though because of my change, I’m getting some odd stares from people wondering who this new girl is. I really wish I was bold enough to confront them and explain the situation, but my mom is one step ahead of me, when she drags me into the living room/dining room/kitchen area where everyone has congregated

“Excuse me, everyone, could I have your attention for a moment?” she belts out, my face thoroughly red from all the eyes now on me and mom.

“I’d like to make an announcement. My second child is now my daughter called Luna. We don’t know exactly what happened, but she woke up as a girl last weekend, and proceeded to tell us that she’d wished for this all along. I hope you can all accept her as the same family member she was before. Thanks!” My mom finished, giving a faux blown kiss to everyone, though most people weren’t in a…festive mood after that. I simply put my head down and make my way to the buffet line before sitting down on the couch next to a couple of my cousins who are girls near my age. Hopefully, if anyone understands, they do.

“I-I-Is that you, Leo?” my cousin Catherine asks, flabbergasted.

“Yeah…it’s me. And my name is Luna.” I feebly reply.

“Wow…I had no idea you were trans!” Katie interjected.

“Yeah I am…but I didn’t transition. I woke up like this last week”

“Yeah right!” both of them said at the same time.

I sigh. “I mean, you’re free to believe what you want, but regardless, I’m Luna now, and I’m really happy as I am!”

“Well that’s nice!” replied Katie, before both Katie and Catherine had me enveloped in a hug. We then proceeded to talk about quite a bit - our experiences at school, a few shows we watched, music, and so on. Eventually my cousin Stephanie came up to me and dropped the question I knew was coming.

“So Luna…you have a boyfriend?”

My face turns red. It really shouldn’t. I get this question all the time. Act natural, damnit!

“Uh, actually I have a girlfriend…”

All three of them gasp. Stephanie continues on.

“So…what’s her name?”

I pull out my phone and start looking for photos of us together, and settle on one from our shopping excursion, before explaining “This is my girlfriend Lily and me together earlier this week”

“Awwwww” all three of them coo at the same time. I smile, and loosen up a little bit knowing how well this was going so far.

Eventually I made my way down to the basement, where my dad and a few other male relatives of mine were watching the baseball game. Thankfully, it seems either nobody here seems to care about my new form, or they’re just to engrossed in the game. Regardless, I space out for a few minutes, watching the game with them until I hear what must be my aunt Susan storming down the stairs.

“LEO!” she yells. I don’t turn around though, seeing as I’m Luna, and she knows this as well as everyone else. That only seems to piss her off though as she grabs me by the shoulder and spins me around, until we’re looking eye-to-eye.

“Leo, is it true you’re one of those transgenders?” she asked, with a judging eye being cast my way.

I hesitate “Uh…sorta? I’d always wished I was a girl but never did anything about it, except wish for it all the time…and it kinda came true?”

She retorted “You know what the Bible says about people like you!”

I then see my sister Emma behind her shout “What does it say?”

She didn’t expect that. She stumbles looking for an answer “Uh, well Deuteronomy 22:5 says that a man shall not dress as a woman…”

“Well it’s good that Luna’s a woman, huh?”

“Well…”

My dad now stands up, unable to stand on the sidelines any longer. He grabs me from behind and gives me a hug “What are you trying to say about my little girl, Susan?”

My heart flutters. My dad is calling me his “little girl”?. He continues:

“Susan, I can’t speak for my wife, but if you’re unwilling to treat my daughter with respect, I don’t think me, Emma or Jennifer want to stay around for that.”

She concedes, sighing as she walks up the stairs. I then turn around and bury my face in my dad’s chest “Thanks daddy!”. My dad can’t help but crack a smile at that, and Emma looks pretty satisfied as well. Before long, we hear a scream upstairs “YOU TOLD HER WHAT?!?”. Seems like my mom found out about our…confrontation. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall.

Anyways, I make my way outside, where most people had made their way, as it was about time for the Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard. Eventually seeing a bunch of little girls dressed in their Sunday best made me a little sad for what they got that I never did. Watching them and lying out her in the sun is actually pretty relaxing…yeah…I could f….

— —

I open my eyes again and…it seems that weird cloudy quality is back - I must have fallen asleep, huh? I look down at myself and - woah - I squeal. It seems my brain took my last thoughts before falling asleep to heart. I’m wearing essentially a miniaturized version of my previous outfit, except my shoes have been replaced with sandals, and my hair is up in high pigtails. I can’t help but giggle at how cute my outfit looks, but am interrupted my my aunt Susan yelling up from the porch:

r32;“Alright, time to get this show on the road, girls! Three, two, one, GO!“

At her signal, I start making my way as fast as my little legs will take me, towards the first egg I see, hidden under her gazebo. I then saw a bevy of them hidden inside the gazebo itself, and I feel so smart for checking inside of here before leaving. I hop in the gazebo and find 5 eggs, hidden in places under cushions or in lamp posts. Leaving there, I then scurry my way over to the rocky area underneath the second-story deck, where a bunch of other eggs are hiding, either in the emergency window sills, or trying to blend in with the rocks.

Leaning over into one of the window sill areas, I hear a little girl start chanting “I see London, I see France, I see Luna’s underpants!”, which causes me to make a small “eep!”. It seems in my excitement, I forgot I was wearing a dress, and should probably be a bit more careful about my positioning. With reddened cheeks, I keep on looking around to the front of the house now, finding eggs in the planters in front of the house, the shrubbery, even one in the mailbox? This is so much fun!

Eventually I hear a loud whistle come from the back of the house, signifying the end of the egg hunt. I toddle my way inside, through the house and back to the back porch, where all of us start counting our candy hauls. I apparently found the second most eggs, meaning I got to pick my prize second - and I went with the six-pack of chocolate cupcakes which I couldn't WAIT to devour. As soon as I started making my way, digging into one of the cupcakes (which normally wouldn’t have been big, but at my size, it was almost the size of my face), I hear my sister start yelling “Luna….Luna wake up! We have to go!”

— —

I shake my head a couple times and realize I’m back on the porch lying again. The egg hunt is long over, and the sun is just starting to set in the west. I look up at my sister as she tells me it’s time to go. I just give her a giant grin and she wonders

“Well, little sis, what’s got you so happy?”, to which I tell her about my dream. She can’t help but give me a goofy, loving grin, very similar to mine after waking from the dream. We then hug, and make our way back to the rest of the party.

After saying our goodbyes, we eventually make our way home, emotionally drained from a lot of explanations and confrontations, though I was somewhat renewed by my dream before. It seems at the end of it all that most of my mom’s family was split three ways - one third were extremely accepting and supportive! Another third just didn’t care, which I could work with. But for that final third, who seemed to pull every religious proverb possible out of thin air, they were a piece of work.

It honestly got me thinking from the back seat. I wondered why if there was a God out there, he would create someone like me who is already on his bad side, to no fault of my own. Heck, why would he create me this way, knowing that without my supernatural wish, I’d be suffering for a long time, even if I could get on hormones? Honestly, adding that up, plus the amount of people using the religion I followed against me…well, it really didn’t make you want to believe, did it?

But how will mom and dad react to the news? They’re not super religious themselves but they did raise me in a Christian household. They were accepting of my gender and sexuality; why wouldn’t they be accepting of this?

As we pull up into the driveway, I blurt it out “Mom, Dad…I think I’m an atheist!”

My mom turns around from the drivers seat. I expect her to say something more, but she simply responds “Cool! Thanks for letting me know! Now who wants ice cream?!?”

Both me and Emma raise our hands, as we pull out of our driveway, on the way to the Dairy Queen. Honestly, if that’s the worst pressure I’ve felt so far in this whole ordeal, I think things will go pretty well for me moving forward.