I came out to my mom in my late 30s. “Megan! I didn’t know you are bisexual!”

This was mom’s first reaction to reading chapter 1 of my book Mindfulness Brings Clarity. I spoke about how I knew I was queer from an experience at a young age.

“I mean, I know we don’t always tell our parents everything..” mom continued.

“Yeah, it just wasn’t something I was comfortable talking about.” I explained.

But let me break it down for you. The family dynamic I grew up with was not one of opening up and discussing much of anything at all. So I was kind of shocked at my mom’s shock that I didn’t tell her something. I didn’t tell her much of anything! Okay I guess that’s an exaggeration. She certainly helped me the best she could through the breakup with my first serious boyfriend when I was in high school. But it was certain reactions to that relationship, as well as a relationship I had with a person of color, that made it very obvious why I didn’t share what I was contemplating about my sexuality when I was younger. The judgment was palpable.

Then there’s the fact that I grew up in the Catholic Church. My parents thankfully shielded us from private school, but we had to go to church every weekend, as well as Sunday school to prepare for the various sacraments. No one explicitly said “we don’t accept gays” that I recall, if I did I blocked it out. But […]