Derek, thanks for the message, and thanks for reading/being a fan as you said. I'm sorry those last two posts struck such a strongly negative note for you. This is a learning experience for me as well, this whole process. It's not as though lots of people have done this before from whom I can get much advice from. I suppose that I need to just point out two things. 1)This blog is about honesty, it always has been and it always will be. 2) I'm not perfect. Put those two things together and yes, I will in fact end up blogging about things in which I am not perfect. I DID know how my parents were going to react at coming out. I did it anyway because, as Vagabondage just stated, I had been holding on to a glimmer of hope that it still might turn out to be an accepting/embracing response. I posted the recording of the conversation in the spirit of the It Gets Better project indeed. I thought that someone else out there may be inspired by the conversation as it went down. Moreover, I thought the whole occasion deserved to be published as it happened. Honesty. I didn't post looking for sympathy, or anything for that matter. I post to this blog to reflect on myself, my life, and my actions. I've been flattered over the years that this can be so inspiring to others. Breaking their hearts really WAS the hardest thing I've ever done. I really don't want to hurt them, but I also can't ignore reality any longer just to make them happy. I'm glad I made the posts that I did, though. Reflecting on what happened and receiving the responses I did prompted me to look at it in a different way. In that way, I'm growing, and learning, and changing as a person and as a leader. So I'm not perfect, nor will I ever be. I don't expect you to think I'm perfect either. Just keep that in mind when/if you choose to continue following my work. Thank you again.