Don't Jump into the Deep End Until You Can Swim

Most likely one of the top questions I get is-when/why did I decide to go full time.

At once it is the simplest and most complex answer I give.

First of all, I had to feel comfortable. For me that alone took years. Then that answer leads to another-how did I begin the process of feeling comfortable?

I was in the position to take the process rather slow once I got out of the heels and hose in the mall mode I was in. I give my deceased wife credit for that after she began to call me "pretty,pretty mirror princess."

I began to eat/drink at restaurants and go to safe rather civilized places like book stores etc. What I realized I was slowly building confidence to see if I wanted to live a feminine existence at all and was I indeed transgender and not a cross dresser.

To me the so called "deep end" came when I started HRT. I began the estrogen therapy and almost immediately began to feel the changes, mostly emotional. Plus I gained a group of friends who went a long way in bringing out the woman I am today.

Two in particular pushed me off the gender cliff I was on and into the deep end.

Now, I am so fortunate to call a whole group friends and they were the ones who taught me how to swim more than I can say. I guess in my case it took a village to build a transgender woman.

Back to the advice? I really don't have any (sigh) except to try the world out and be ready for a few bumps and bruises on the way. There isn't a right or wrong way to be transgender.

Ella Grant

From Canada's Edmonton Journal:

"The first time a teacher unintentionally outed then-13 year-old Ella Grant as transgender, it was her second day at Victoria school.

Grade 8 students looking for their desk in French class picked up Popsicle sticks with their names on them. Ella’s stick said “Eliot.”

Despite her family asking Victoria school administrators to keep the new student’s birth name and gender private, the school district’s computer system was unrelenting. Flummoxed teachers kept having mishaps, displaying Ella’s “dead” name on class seating charts, and calling it out during attendance."

For more, go here.

Do You Dream in Gender?

I know when I was growing up I had at least one dream a week in which I was a girl and I didn't want to wake up to the real world of being a boy.

As time went on though, I began to dream as me-most of the time with no respect to either gender.

I know people who say they can dream in color, so I began to wonder about gender and why my gender dreams seemed to fade away the more I MtF transitioned into a 24/7 life as a transgender woman.

I also know there is no real answer to why someone dreams the way they do. Although some peeps make a living out of telling people why. I am learning to read Tarot cards now, maybe I will have to ask the cards!

It's my theory the less stress I put on myself to live the life I have always wanted...maybe I didn't have to dream about it!