Cherie Garcia is one of “those kind” of moms. She’s a divorced mother of two doing her damnedest to raise her children to be thoughtful and confident.
And she’s doing it with aplomb. Here’s proof.
Related: Am I nonbinary? A guide to what it means to identify outside the gender binary
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When Garcia’s teenage son, Crow, came out to her as transgender, he did it with a short letter reminiscent of a ransom note complete with cut out letters.
“My teenager handed me this envelope and asked that I wait to open it until after he went to his dad’s house,” Garcia said in a tweet that’s gone viral as users give mom credit for handling the situation absolutely perfectly.
“After opening it, I called to let him know that the *only* thing that’s wrong with this is the ‘r’ he accidentally left out of congratulations,” she added. She completed the tweet with a smiley face emoji along with the trans and rainbow flag emojis because that’s what a mom would do.
“There is nothing my kids could do to lose my support and unconditional love,” she continued in another tweet that included the heart emoji this time. “My prayer for each of them is that they live life as their authentic selves, without compromise. My teen is figuring things out and I support him 100%, because God created both of my babies perfectly.”
And then the internet weighed in.
Twitter went wild with responses to Garcia and her nonchalant all-encompassing acceptance – and her spelling lesson. Others shared their own coming out experiences with their parents – including photos of other notes teenagers gave their parents to come out.
“I love how you pointed out the spelling error. Typical mom thing to do,” Robyn D replied. “And your unconditional love is what all parents should have no matter who their kids are.”
Garcia responded with the laughing face emoji and three simple words that would make any teacher proud of her parenting skills.
“Spelling is important!”
“Full credit due! It takes time to find all those letters, and I love your reaction!” Charlotte Emily replied. “Congatulations to you both!”
“It does! His dad’s letter has the r. He said he was looking for a smaller r to fit on my letter, then he got distracted and forgot to add it,” Garcia replied. “He and I always call out spelling mistakes on signs, so the missing r made me smile. I think he was a little nervous, too.”
And when another mom shared a similar story about being given an unusual coming out note – and her own mom reaction.
“My own non binary kiddo nailed a note to their door in the middle of the night and declared that if we must refer to them to refer to them as our spawn,” she laughed. “I commented on the atrocious handwriting.”
“I’ll call you Voltron if you want,” Garcia joked in reply, “but please spell it correctly.”
My teenager handed me this envelope and asked that I wait to open it until after he went to his dad’s house. After opening it, I called to let him know that the *only* thing that’s wrong with this is the “r” he accidentally left out of congratulations . 😊🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/0DXmvcgGjk
— Cherie Garcia (@CherieAmours) November 14, 2021
I walked by his room before he gave it to me & I happened to be on the phone w/ his dad (we're divorced). Dad asked how Crow was doing & I said, "They're either working on homework or holding someone ransom." I was relieved that it wasn't the latter when I opened the envelope.😂
— Cherie Garcia (@CherieAmours) November 16, 2021
Oh my stars, this is so adorable. What a creative way to tell his parents! Crow seems like a great kid- congRatulations for giving him the respect, freedom, and sense of fun for him to be able to give you this!
— Falco SkyWolf- He/Xey, Punhound Philosoraptor (@FalSkyWolf) November 16, 2021
Spelling is important! Crow and I enjoy pointing out spelling errors on signs, so I especially had to call him out on the missing "r" in his note. 😂
— Cherie Garcia (@CherieAmours) November 16, 2021
Here's another. pic.twitter.com/KbBpNysunn
— CapnV (@CapnVonV666) November 16, 2021
Love it!
— Laura (@fuzzywuzzie) November 16, 2021
It does! His dad’s letter has the r. He said he was looking for a smaller r to fit on my letter, then he got distracted and forgot to add it. He and I always call out spelling mistakes on signs, so the missing r made me smile. I think he was a little nervous, too. 🥰
— Cherie Garcia (@CherieAmours) November 15, 2021
“I’ll call you Voltron if you want, but please spell it correctly.” 😂
— Cherie Garcia (@CherieAmours) November 16, 2021