Elijah & Laurie - May 4, 2020

I recently posted on Facebook asking for content ideas from my friends for this site. I received a few comments but one idea really stuck out. My friend Eli suggested I do interviews about people, so I developed this idea to highlight some individuals in my life. Some are directly in my life through living in the area, or being lifelong friends, and some are going to be people who might not even know they had an impact on me and my life. I figured it was only right to do my first interview with the person who suggested it, so Eli and I sat down and did an interview via Zoom. 

I wasn’t sure how it would go because I had no idea how to conduct an interview, I just knew I had questions, and wanted to make this happen. From his house in Missouri and my apartment in Massachusetts, we made the best over a Zoom call. We talk about him moving from Mass to Missouri, as well as what it was like for him growing up transgender, his transition, and recent mental health issues. After a rocky start, we get things rolling as we got more comfortable chatting remotely. 

Just as things start to lose steam, and I start running out of questions, an unexpected guest shows up. The reason I even know Eli to begin with is through his mother Laurie being best friends with my mom. She had just gotten home in the middle of our interview and wanted to say hello, so I couldn’t miss the opportunity to ask Laurie a few questions. We chatted a little about what an amazing job she did as a mother with a transgender child, as well as how she dealt with him coming out, before I made her tell me a funny story about her and my mom from back in the day.

I am so proud of Eli for taking the steps toward a better life. From transitioning, to getting diagnosed and on medication, that is a lot of hard work that needed to be done, and not everyone is fortunate to be able to make those steps. I am proud to call Eli and Laurie my friends, as well as so proud of the content we created. I can’t wait to do more interviews, and tell many more peoples stories!

Podcast/ Audio Version Available on Soundcloud!