A Night in the "Nati"

Saturday night a wonderful friend of mine and I had a night out in the "Nati". The "Nati" is a slang term for Cincinnati.

Like so many evenings, this one started out innocently enough, we were simply going to downtown Cinci to enjoy the Christmas lights and sounds.  Oh, by the way my friend is a "GG" which shouldn't figure into this post but in spirit of understanding and disclosure-there you are.

Little did I know the real meaning of the evening would begin when I washed and dried my hair earlier in the afternoon.  The hair experience is still a mystery to me. Today however, I decided to step outside the box and let my "freak flags fly"...so to speak. I always admired the girls with the wild hair so I spritzed my hair with some sort of curling conditioner recommended by my friend. I let it dry, teased my hair a little and off I went.

Cincinnati is actually and hour and half or so from where I live but for any number of reasons I have always been drawn to it. Seemingly the place has been the spot where many fun and special things have happened to me.

I made the trip, picked her up at her house and we headed downtown- parked and headed to all the Christmas activities. Fairly shortly we got our fill of the festive spirit and went in search of other spirits.
We didn't have to go far as  Cincy has finally started to develop the area between the two pro stadiums into an entertainment district of bars and restaurants. One of which in particular I have wanted to visit since it opened earlier this year. Among other things it brews and serves a few beers I call my "ancestral beers" or the beers I drank when I first "popped the top" on a cold brew.  This was back in the day before all the now foreign giant brewers started to brain wash the beer drinking public with essentially tasteless "near beer"-but I digress. Fortunately "the Nati" is starting to return to some of it's brewing roots. (It's was a hugely German influenced city) So the night became mystical when I actually ordered a beer I hadn't seen since the early 70's and was sitting there enjoying it with my friend with all my potentially wild hair as a woman in this huge place.

Truthfully, I know my hair is far from being the "wild thing" I imagined it to be tonight-but you know it didn't matter. I finally had connected the dots to a time when I couldn't even imagine doing what I did tonight. Plus just for a second I was the girl with just a touch of bad I always admired. I'm selfish though, and I'll take that second I never really had.

Yes, it was an amazing "night in the Nati" and I give my friend and my ancestral beer all the credit.

Classic Female Impersonation

Remember the term female impersonator ? I think in my youth female impersonator was perhaps a more politically term for drag queen. Perhaps Great Britain had some of the most famous ones for a time such as Danny LaRue. If you have not heard of - or seen him, check this video:


 

Carry on Trans Baggage

We are now officially in the holiday travel times from Thanksgiving to Christmas. In whatever mode you are traveling this season, normally baggage is involved.
All of the commotion started me thinking of the amount of baggage we carry between genders as transgender women and men.
Some have suggested we shouldn't carry any of it. But is that possible? I suppose your amount of baggage is somewhat dictated by the amount of life you have lived.  I'm not suggesting the transgender experience is easier at any age but it's true at a later age families, jobs and a myriad of other responsibilities do add a ton more baggage to the process.
But go ahead and say it-I'm biased because I represent the older edge of all of this.
Bottom line is however I do believe at what ever age you decide to transition as a man or woman, your baggage is coming along. As time goes by you have a choice to sort through your past belongings to see what you want to keep or throw away.  Less and less of it remains.
On a positive side, your experience as your birth gender has the potential to make you a better human being. What could be better if those pieces of baggage you are combining as both genders do provide a unique view of what life could be.
If you are the "glass is half empty" type of person, you could say the negative baggage you brought with you will always affect your life.
During this holiday season, I hope you have a chance to reflect on the baggage you may be traveling with.