Ode to Wisteria

There is something about wisteria that makes me happy. The fragrance, the color, the exuberance of the blossoms... and maybe also because it comes and goes so fast. 

I had lunch with an interesting couple of people. One of them is unusual, but not for Seattle I guess. This person, Dani, prefers to use the "they/ them" pronoun because they are "gender queer". I have known one other person that preferred they/them, but I was very curious and Dani said they would answer any question I had. So I asked them to tell me about this - they said "gender queer" means that they do not identify with the traits of only one gender. Gender is a continuum and people can even move along it throughout their lifetimes. Dani (who appears female) has a male partner also referred to as they/them. It takes a bit of getting used to but they are not militant about it, like other people I have met and they just gently corrected me. I don't believe it really has anything to do with sexual orientation, or at least not necessarily.  Anyway, it takes some thought to get the hang of the pronoun and verb tenses!