Becca,

That was a really big moment just now, and I needed to tell you that.

You didn’t know then, but when you heard it, you said, yes, that did happen.

I wrote this today when I heard it was National Coming Out Day, and … 🤷‍♂️ idk I just wanted everyone to read this.

****

In December 2007, something was about to burst.

It was an email I sent to my best friend the week prior to coming back for winter break from college my first semester away from home.

“Becca, there’s something I really need to tell you.”

The first thing I did was say hi to my parents when I made the two-hour drive. The second was to head to her house and pick her up. We spent a half hour chatting with her family — talking about her last couple months studying in Costa Rica. The weird phenomenon of my “Freshman -25” weight loss.

When her family went to bed, we went out to my car to drive whereever it was we were going to. I pulled out from the space I was in, but stopped abruptly before exiting it.

I put the car in park, and I just started crying.

“I’m gay,” I told my best friend, and she didn’t pause before she told me she loved me.

We went to a diner right afterward, so she could buy me a milkshake and talk with me about boys.

And I felt like I was really myself for the first time.