Page 1.- Old Friends-New Faces. Yesterday was simply wonderful for a couple reasons-including meeting a couple old friends I hadn't seen for a minute! One was a transgender man friend of mine. First of all, I think it's not as easy to judge the progress of one's HRT transition if you see them all the time. I hadn't seen Draco in a while and the changes are amazing. He has lost weight, his face is becoming more angular (with facial hair) and his voice is changing-just to name a few of the changes. Wow! He looks good and happy.
Another chance meeting yesterday was totally different. I have been writing off and on for the last couple days about going to my grand daughters Bat Mitzfah and the hows and whys of doing it as a guy. Quickly, I was told I could come as I pleased at my daughter's and grand daughter's request. Since it was her day, I chose male. The day was a beauty for a June, Ohio summer day. blue skies, light breezes and low heat/humidity. Doesn't get much better than that for June around here. I am not Jewish myself and had never attended a Bat Mitzfah and it was different than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised. After it was over, we all had a chance to eat and visit. Not long into the afternoon, my partner Liz and I noticed an attractive 20 something woman walking around showing more skin, tattoos and piercings than clothes. After a second, we locked eyes because we knew each other-kind of. Over five years ago, she had met a pre HRT male version of me and after that became one of the individuals who was instrumental in accepting me and helping me into a new group of friends. Bottom line was after yesterday she had only met my old in the closet male self twice-ever. Normally, I dearly hate for that to happen but, the experience was crazy fun and deserves it's own post which we will do in the Condo later. It's a classic story of switching gender names and pronouns-in a split second.
Paula, I simply take my hair and pull it back into a pony tail and either just wear it that way or with a baseball hat - with the hair sticking out the hole in the back.
Page 2.- The Week in Review. Such a week it was in the comment department around the Condo! We stayed the night with Pat's wife and messed up the why's and hows of going to L.A. with Jen and Mandy. I encourage those of you who are interested to go back to the posts Nothing to Wear, Owning It and A Night with Paula's Wife to follow the comments. Most of which, were bittersweet in how they were presented by three women who are trying (or thinking seriously of) doing a little more exploration of how their chosen gender could present in the world.
And, yes Pat it is a little scary how many of our lives were so similar, even though we have never met to this day. The similarities also cross international borders, as I have found with readers such as Paula and Vicki in the UK-among others. The more we learn about ourselves, no matter if we identify as cross dressers or transgender women and men- the more we come to understand who are the true "gate keepers" of our existence.
Page 3.- Stilettos on Thin Ice. As you all know by now and if you read a little of my Backward's Both Ways post. My first book has been e-published and among other places you can get it on Amazon which you can click on the link in the upper right hand corner of the blog. If you want to check it out, if you can, I recommend Amazon over Barnes and Noble because for some reason I'm not good enough to figure out-it published better, with fewer mistakes. If life slows down to a slow roar any time soon, I'm going to feature a little from the book (ala Dr. Phil) who is the most shameless huckster of his (and family's) products ever!
FYI: The hand beaded hair barrette above, is compliments of Liz T Designs
Again, if you read the "Backwards" post you will understand how special it was for me to do it at all! Paula said it best in this comment: " So, have you heard about the dyslexic insomniac agnostic? They would lay awake at night wondering if there is a Dog" Now I know why I can't sleep!
Page 4.-The Back Page. As you can tell from this edition, Momma Karma is still rocking my world with pure good vibes and I love her for it. Even though I truly have become a little "winded". Perhaps Mandy said it best with this comment:
"We (collectively) always figure it out in the end, so a little confusion adds color to the discussion!"Thanks to all for spending another week with me here in the Condo! I hope we can keep "meeting like this!"