This is one of your strongest essays.

A few weeks ago I was Minnesota. I am at a park with a friend from high school. The friend coaches non-cis-boys in bike riding. Many of her fellow coaches came and sat down. Two coaches sat down in front of us and I struck up a conversation with them. The one woman reminded me of my trans friends. The voice, the shape of the face, her boobs, the way she spoke.

Then she told me that she was trans. I did not ask, but she outed herself to me. I thought about that for a while because I wanted to know if this was a safety protocol she did for her peace.

If I did not have a trans friend that I speak with on the phone and have dinner with from time to time, I don't know I would have made the association. I also wonder if she saw me interrogating her too much with my eyes, despite the fact I was there with a female.

Thank you for writing the way you write it means so much to me.