Mama, I Was Supposed To Be Born A Girl

My son was barely 3 years old when he informed me that … I didn’t have a son.

He looked me square in the eyes and said, “Mama, I think something went wrong when I was in your tummy, because I was supposed to be born a girl, but I was born a boy instead.”

He begged me to put him back in the womb to right the wrong. He was sobbing.

In this animation, my child and I tell our story:

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">How to Be a Girl from user27600859">gendermom on Vimeo. Audio + illustration by Marlo Mack.

Marlo Mack blogs about raising her transgender daughter at www.gendermom.com. With her daughter’s help, she produces “How to Be a Girl” (www.howtobeagirlpodcast.com), an audio podcast about their lives together. Marlo Mack is a pseudonym.

The Seattle Story Project: First-person reflections published at KUOW.org. These are essays, stories told on stage, photos and zines. To submit a story - or note one you've seen that deserves more notice - contact Isolde Raftery at iraftery@kuow.org or 206-616-2035.

Originally published 1/29/2015.