Ilene was an extraordinary child. Despite being on the autism spectrum, she excelled in many areas. She was a brilliant student, an accomplished musician who played five instruments, a polyglot who spoke four languages, and a dedicated athlete with multiple black belts (or dan ranks) in Tang Soo Do. She lost her father to cancer when she was only twelve. Around this time, I began noticing scars from self-harm, which I immediately addressed with her pediatrician. The doctor recommended getting a dog, and after we brought Ginger into our lives, the self-harming stopped.
The COVID pandemic, however, changed everything. Like many teenagers during COVID, Ilene began spending more and more time online. After a while, she declared that she was bisexual, then a lesbian, and then non-binary. Then, in 2021, out of the blue, my 16-year-old girly girl decided she was transgender. At the time, I…
