River's 40th Birthday Present!

River's turning 40 in less than a week!

What a momentous, amazing birthday.

He's crushed it so hard this year. Coming out and transitioning! Raising a wonderful baby! Showing up for self-care, mental and physical health like never before! Performing with four different improv troupes! (Four? Three? Twenty? I literally can't even keep track anymore?)

If you're reading this, he's probably touched your life in some awesome way, briefly or deeply or both. It seems like he's constantly posting incredible, clear, deeply sincere pieces, looking at life as a trans, queer, intersex, mentally ill survivor, at a level that most people never get to explore.

I'm not just saying this to make you think about how great he is so you might pitch in on a group present.

I'm saying it because he went to a free class on this one particular coaching style, and came home knowing that this was what he should be doing with his life.

You know he's great at accounting, HR, librarying, and pretty much everything he does. Also, did you know he hates all that shit? (There are definitely jobs in those fields that he'd do, and he's got a whole bunch to apply to. But they don't use his best skills.)

His best skill is that thing where he sees you with his heart and can talk you through things directly from his own heart. (This might be a Gowan thing - or, at least, a thing that Gowans who have worked on their shit have.)

He's always been interested in coaching of some kind. This particular modality, as i understand it, is especially perfect for him because it involves coaching people through their relationships with others and themselves, in a way that teaches them new tools right there and then. Not, like, through homework, not through advice or talking out your feelings in a safe space but having to act on them in real life.

He has a scholarship for the training; it's four separate weeklong things next year, and then a second year where you can start practicing it with, basically, oversight and support and ongoing training, before going out on your own.

But even with the scholarship, he has to pay $500 for it. Which we don't really have.

And what better gift than to have people who love you and believe in you send you to a training for your dream job?

So I'm passing the hat. I did this for a comedy writing class when he turned 35, some of you might remember... and look at him now! Back then, I gave him a birthday card with the names of everyone who chipped in, which was incredibly moving for him. I'll do the same thing now: one big gift with one big card, so he can feel all your love.

Imagine where he'll be when he's 45!

Let's make this happen!