I’m From Driftwood is a series of LGBTQ stories from real people in the community and this week’s offering from Edna Redo is especially heartwarming. The Chicago-based lesbian talks about her relationship with her late mother, and how her initial homophobia seemed to fade away in her final moments.
“I was holding her on my chest – holding her head, rather, on my chest,” Edna shared. “I leaned her over on my chest. The words that she could get out I heard, she told me, she said, ‘Pookie, I love you and I’m okay.'”
After Edna’s mother passed, her aunt confirmed that her mother knew she was gay.
“She’s gonna always love you, and don’t you ever think anything different,” Edna said her aunt told her. “I don’t care what you do or who you do it with. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Since then, Edna says, she’s been closet-free (“since 1993”).
