Happy Birthday, Dom

Today, on Dom's birthday, it's hard to find a space on Twitter that isn't crammed with gifs and photos and happy birthday wishes from Earpers near and far.  One only needed to scroll their feed for .2 seconds before they could stumble across one.

And then at 3pm today - that's EST to you folks not from 'round here - the Earper-verse exploded into a shower of rainbows and unicorns and glitter when Dom announced, in no uncertain terms that she was Queer.  Our DMs filled up quicker than bathtub with all manner of "Did you hear??"s and screen grabs and links to the original post (yeah, good luck getting to that right now).  

We here at EDE, speaking through the voice of the old-lady English teacher just want to offer our most sincere words of gratitude and congratulations that we possibly can.  For her 30th birthday, not only did Dom give to herself the best gift that she ever could in allowing herself to live her truth, but she also gave that beautiful gift to every single Earper: young, old, in the closet, out, L, G, B, T or Q.  She gave that gift to every non-Earper, to anyone who'd ever even just heard her name.  

In one statement, Dom showed us that we can all stand up and speak our truths, live them, wade around and swim in them as well.  She reminded us that the world us an amazing, beautiful - albeit complicated and messy at times - place.  She gave us a piece of herself and in doing so took us by the hand and let us know that no matter who we are, no matter how we live, we are beautiful and we are loved.

So from Shanna, Emily and Buffalo, we thank you, Dominique Provost - Chalkley.  Thank you for giving of yourself and thank you for letting us in.  Happy Birthday.