We Got Mail!

Thanks to three of you girls who responded to my post on the Uni-Sex bathroom at the Cincinnati Pride:

1. Mandy ShermanJune 25, 2018 at 1:08 PM

   "Sounds like a good time was had despite the issue! And that everyone was tolerant... "
   
   Mandy

   They had no choice :) but I don't think some were happy about it! All in all, it was the great equalizer.
2. 
   Michelle HartJune 25, 2018 at 3:33 PM

   "I have to agree about "T" being very evident at both the Polk Pride event and at the St Pete Pride. There were still a smathering of Queens in their getups but I saw an almost 50-50 mix of MtF as well as FtM."
3.             Great!
4. 
   
5. 
   FABULOUSCONNIEDEEJune 25, 2018 at 3:33 PM

   "It took a lot of pressure off..." So to speak. huh? :-)
   
   Here in Seattle, the big parade was yesterday. I chose, instead, to attend a "Celebration of Life" for an old friend of mine who passed away a couple of weeks ago. It seems that I could document my own transition along with the critical illnesses and deaths of family and friends over the last ten years. Each one has its own significance, and each one has led to my introduction to others who had never met me as I am (though, many of them had heard about my transition through the grapevine). Yesterday was no exception, and I guess I kind of had my own pride parade as I walked around the room with the purpose of introducing myself. Ya know, you have to have some pride in order to be able to do that!
   
   Getting the "You're so brave" comment from others seems to always come up. I try to explain that it's not so much bravery as it is the confidence I have in who I am, and, with thought of pride, I am also proud to be who I am. Some of the people I talked with would never even have considered attending a pride event, but they got a dose of it from me yesterday, anyway!
   
   The results of my efforts were mixed, but the worst I received was indifference. There was one man, a "born-again Christian," who was quite pleasant, albeit not totally accepting (I don't believe) of what I am "doing." That's fine with me, and I did receive a few hugs from others to make up for it.
   
   The last time I saw my departed friend was just a few days before he died of the terrible cancer that had ravaged his body. He was so frail, yet he made the effort to stand up and give me a big hug as I was leaving his house. This surprised me, as we had only seen each other once before since I began transitioning. Prior to that, he had had no desire to even see me. We were friends for forty years, but when he heard that I was transitioning, he apparently envisioned something disgusting and repulsive. When we did finally meet a couple years ago (at another funeral, by the way), I heard later that he'd told his wife, "Well, that was sure anticlimactic." Very shortly after that, he was diagnosed with the cancer that eventually took his life, but we still didn't meet again until just before his death. That hug we shared, though, made up for all the lost time.
   
   If there's a moral to this recounting, I think it's that we need to remember that pride is so much more than a yearly event. Being proud oneself shows through to others every day of the year, and the icing on that cake is when you learn that someone else is also proud to know you....just the way you are. "
6.             Sorry for the loss of your friends!
   

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

In the current polar cold conditions and with my current androgynous condition,  I have presented several interesting fashion "looks" to the world.
Here's an example.

My girlfriend's car is "heat challenged", which is a bad way to be in the weather we have had here, when 0 degrees is warm.  I start my retired morning by warming up my car and taking her to work.  I apply plenty of day moisturizing cream, put my guy jeans and flannel shirt on, tie my long pony tail back and out through the back of my ball hat, unisex boots and super warm guys coat-and hope the car starts.

When I pick her up from work, though, I am all girl. Yesterday the day started as I pointed out and finished on the way home at the grocery store when the clerk called us "ladies" twice.

I used to feel guilty about "jumping presentations", not so much anymore.  As I have become more secure in myself, I don't have to worry about what the transgender "purists" say about being a pretend transgender person.  It took me close to 50 years to figure out what my gender inner self was trying to tell me and during the half century I endured tons of male conditioning. If I liked it or not.  So why not incorporate parts of my past into the present? In other words, collect a little back pay.

Another reason I am bringing this all up comes from a "pre interview" I had last night with Jasmine Ford.  Thursday night I will be interviewed on her show which I have mentioned a couple times here in Cyrsti's Condo.  We immediately hit it off and began to discuss our pasts which have been so incredibly different. She was completely fascinated I had lived over 50 years as a man/cross dresser and then transitioned.  I was completely fascinated with the fact, by her own admission, she transitioned from a gay boy to a woman at the age of 18. In essence, Jasmine really never experienced much of a "male life" at all.

Coming up in future posts, I will pass along her insights on her transition and beliefs and of course will give you all the exact links and times I will be on her show. It's really cool I'm going to be interviewed of course but not as cool as her ideas concerning the transgender community.  Stay tuned!