I support the courage and resolve with which Bruce Jenner became Caitlyn, a presumably straight woman. The process had to be painful and involved considerable soul searching, but she pulled it off. I have no problem with a person who knows what they want, goes after it, and gets it.

The process took a lifetime, apparently. Jenner, the world’s best athlete for a time, says she has been thinking of this “foreever,” recognizing an error in gender assignment at birth.

As I think of this, thoughts of my mother come up, as they do so often. She was a brilliant, funny woman with a clear view of life and its foibles. If Jenner had expressed his wish for gender reassignment, she would have laughed, and said “It’s easy, Bruce, all you have to do is kiss your elbow.”  (Note: I still don’t know why she told me that!)

Caitlyn Jenner has “kissed her elbow.” We live in an amazing time and mother Natalie would be astonished.