Just got off the phone after an hour-and-half conversation with my brother who called. We’ve drifted apart over the years and aren’t very close, especially since he lives back East, although during the call we both said we’d like to reconnect going forward.

It was a bit of “ask me anything,” so I ended up talking about the full gamut of Teh Tranz, including: electrolysis, how I chose my name, the effects of estrogen, what I’m expecting to happen at my job, my upcoming facial surgeries in January, as well as my “backstory” — I’d mentioned in my coming out email to him that I’ve felt trans since around puberty and he was interested in hearing my life story about that part of my life.

Another one of those “small world” moments.* Turns out both a trans girl and a trans boy attend the school his two oldest kids go to. So it’s not unfamiliar to them and apparently didn’t faze his oldest daughter, who’s 16, when he told her. (He hasn’t yet told the two younger brothers who are 14 and 12, in part because he wanted some help on age-appropriate explanations.)

We both ended up choking up at the end of the call, when he said, “I guess I should say goodbye to [boyName] and hello to Marla.”

He really has been amazingly supportive. When he replied to my coming out email, he congratulated me and said he wasn’t losing a brother, but rather gaining a sister, and used my proper name when he called me today.

* It previously turned out that one my cousin knows two trans people via friends.