This is not the life I imagined it would be long ago. We never know what surprises are in store for us, and this was not the plan. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I got to raise two wonderful kids, who are now adults and (somewhat) out of the house. Most of the time, it's been just the three of us. The furry children came later, but are every part of our nuclear family.

Julie was in middle school and Jordan was in elementary when they came to live with me. When given the choice of whether I wanted them full-time or not, there was no choice. Of course! I didn't have to think about it for a second. Sure, it was a challenge, but we were up to it. Sure, the condo was small, and our stuff is crammed everywhere, but that was not an issue. It was, and still is, home.

Jules and Jordan were involved in the decision to buy this place; the fact that I brought them for a tour and asked them if they wanted to live here in front of the seller was probably a big reason the previous owners sold this place to us. There have been many birthdays, Thanksgivings and Christmases here since then. Their artwork (and some of mine) adorns the walls. The condo complex is magical at Halloween, and, in the early years, they came back with pounds of candy, grinning at their hauls. More recently, they've been handing out the candy to the new young kids in the complex.

We've been on many adventures together; before Jules went off to college, we made several yearly summer trips to Europe. We explored Stonehenge and Vesuvius together, climbed the Eiffel Tower and the Tower of Pisa, wandered through the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Prado, and other museums. We snapped pictures in Pompeii, strolled the streets of Prague, toured salt mines near Vienna, ate sorbet along the Champs-Élysées, and mailed postcards from Liechtenstein. We rode a gondola in Venice, a crazy taxi ride to St. Peter's Square (and, fortunately, not to see St. Peter directly, although there were several close calls), the high-speed trains in Spain, the funicular in Lisbon, and a cable car up the face of the Rock of Gibraltar. Jules was my navigator as we drove to Cardiff in Wales, through the back roads of France to the D-Day beaches and Mont St. Michel, and along the southern coast of Spain from Gibraltar to Seville.

And you never know when you're going to come across a Dalek, even one made of snow.

Being a single parent is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It's also the most joyous. I've worked at a lot of different places in my career, and they've all been interesting and rewarding — but they just don't compare to being a parent. (And I started my work career as a software engineer at the University of Michigan and ended up at MIT!) I know I've made a lot of mistakes along the way, but the fact that my children still talk to me, ask me for advice, and want to share experiences together means that I must have done something right along the way. I'll take that.

And who knows what adventures are left in store? Now that Jules and Jord are older, I can go further afield. I've been back to England four more times now, to Scotland, Poland, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and am looking forward to more trips. I have friends all over the place, and going to visit them is a blast.

Life takes unexpected turns at times, and I've had to deal with some real challenges. In 2016, I started suffering from terrible migraines. They quickly became persistent and debilitating — then continuous. I was in severe pain, even in my dreams. I couldn't work. I couldn't function. The pandemic hit. Life essentially stopped — but I persisted. I kept LARPing, virtually, as much as I could, because it was therapeutic. Medical marijuana helped me get through the worst of the flares, and, for the longest time, it was the only thing that helped, despite trying every new migraine medicine on the market. Fortunately, in 2021, I found a new medication that mitigates most of the pain. I still suffer from the long-lasting effects of the migraine, but I'm finally (mostly) functional again.

And then there's my transition. My story is classic; I'd struggled (silently) with gender dysphoria since puberty. However, given the time and place I was growing up, I completely repressed those thoughts for much of my life. It's taken me considerable time, thought, research, getting to know other LGBTQ friends, and therapy to understand who and what I am. Once I admitted my truth to myself and accepted it, everything fell into place. There's no question in my mind. I've never been happier and more comfortable with myself. Every day as Jennifer is a joy. I wake with a smile.

Through all of this, I've never given up on adventuring. Travel is calling my name. There are LARPs to write, run, and play. You have to keep having adventures!