Sunshine Day

Pre Weight loss, Credit Cyrsti Hart

 Sunday turned out to be a wonderful day for several reasons. 

First of all, it was another beautiful autumn day with highs in the mid 70's (F) 

Also, for some unknown reason, Liz's 23 year old son invited us out to lunch. It was one of those days when my gender dysphoric self gave me a break and I thought my feminine self was able to shine through. Ironically, even my face is thinning out again, which accentuates my cheek bones. Other than that, I chose a nice pair of leggings and lightweight lacy top. I even got real fancy and wore a pair of earrings which I try to do on occasion to insure the holes in my ears don't grow shut. (They haven't). All in all, I felt good which always is the number one accessory a transgender woman can have. 

Once we arrived at the restaurant we had gone to for years, we found out they were closing early due to staffing issues so we had to hurry our lunch. It vaguely occurred to me to go somewhere else but I didn't say anything and we stayed. Ultimately we ended up taking most of our food to go. The disappointment came when there was very little public to see or to be seen.  Even though all my attention to detail with my appearance seemingly was wasted, the whole experience was good for my soul.  

Also yesterday another rarity happened.  The Cincinnati NFL football team went to their arch-rival Pittsburgh Steeler homefield and won for the first in like fifteen years. So life was good again.

With my birthday coming up in the not so distant future, I should be able to talk Liz into a special night or two.

Sports and the Transgender Woman

It's Super Bowl Sunday and it's time to look back at my former love affair with the NFL. I say former because following the futile games of the Cincinnati Bengals has nearly broken all interest I had concerning pro football. I feel much different of course when it comes to The Ohio State Buckeyes and college football. It could be argued the Buckeyes were the best football team in Ohio last year when compared to the Cleveland Browns and the Bengals.

Along the way as I transitioned, I wondered if or why I would/should maintain any interest in sports at all. Then, as I established a new set of female friends, I learned they were as loyal and knowledgeable sports fans as I was. I found out I could bring my love of sports with me. The whole deal was as I was building the new me, I found out she wasn't the girly-girl type I thought at one time I would have to be. I could as easily sit at a bar with other women and drink beer as well as some fruity feminine drink.

I even was invited to tag along to a NFL Monday Night Football game in Cincinnati years ago. Sure I was scared to death but I went. Another lesson learned how sports didn't have to have a gender.

It does help I played quite a bit of football and baseball when I was young and understood the games strategies as they play out. In my past it was humorous on the rare occasions I became involved in conversations with men on sports, I had to dumb it out in order not to hurt their precious male egos.

The moral to my story is you can bring your loves with you as you transition. You don't have to adhere to the gender norms society lays on us.

Of course if you decide to go to a Super Bowl party today and really don't care who wins, you can watch the game for the commercials and the half time entertainment. As many women will do. Just have a good time!

Sunday Rumblings

Truthfully I am still buzzed (naturally) by The Ohio State University football team's victory over Penn State last night! What a game, as predicted. Penn State truly has one of the most intimidating stadiums to play in when they do their "White Out", when everyone wears white and goes crazy. Supposedly, their stadium is the third largest in the world.

This post is about so much more than football though, I have never been one to make much out of my birthday, but Liz is making a big deal of mine this year. I don't completely understand because it's next year I turn seventy. I'm going to quote Mickey Mantle (the famous baseball player) when he said "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."

My birthday is actually next Friday, so my daughter and Liz are off and are taking me out for breakfast. The rest of the weekend will be jammed packed too. Friday night is our regular monthly karaoke social, Saturday Liz wants to take me out to dinner and Sunday is her company picnic. When you mix football in with The OSU Buckeyes and the Cincinnati Bengals, I will struggle to find time for my afternoon naps!

Throughout the week also, I have dedicated myself to working on my voice homework and not get ambushed the next time I go for an appointment, in a couple weeks.

Now, I just have to figure out what I am going to wear everywhere next weekend! The weather so far looks pretty good and mild. So maybe we will get the lawnmower back and get a less than ambitious twenty year old to sacrifice his precious game time to cut it. He is not my son though, so he is Liz's problem!

Finally, thanks to all of you and especially Mandy who complimenting me on my picture (s). As you know, I am not a big fan of any pictures of me and have never been. Even as my old male self.