It Started on Labor Day 2004
Sep. 2nd, 2007 06:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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transThis is Labor Day weekend around here and I hope everyone is having a good holiday. Some people will have cookouts, ball games, and any number of outdoor activities. For me it is somewhat a point of reflection as it was three years ago this holiday that I pretty much went “full time.”
Everyone reading this will have a different definition of full time but for me it was the decision to live as a woman, all the time. This revelation came after a meeting with Jennifer, my mentor from a transition group in Springfield, Missouri. The discussion revolved around what I told her about my weekly activities and my weekly dinner with my parent where we would usually go out to eat. I was going in “boy” mode those times and that was the only time I would do so. When Jenifer asked me why I did that for, I found myself without a logical answer. The decision was made then and there to forgo the boy mode day for them as eventually it would have to go away anyway. I came home, packed up all the “male” stuff and I mean all of it and either tossed it in the dumpster or gave it to the Goodwill.
Now mind you this happened about three months before I got my legal name change and started HRT but as far as I am concerned this was the start of the great change. I had tons of clothes and stuff from my former self that no longer held any use or meaning in my life. This included a lot of Boy Scout stuff as all of it went into the trash. (BTW I was an Eagle Scout and the only reason I stayed with it was to prove to my brothers that I wasn’t a pussy). Over the next several months, HRT was started, the name was legally changed in open court, and I started hair removal while the effects of hormones where constantly changing my body.
I think the one thing that has stuck out in all of this is the need for planning this out. I never really had it written out but knew what had to be done and knew that I had to be flexible as things will always change. If I can offer any advice it is to have an idea of what you want to do and make a conscience decision and stick with it no matter what. The first and foremost thing for me was to have a source of money to do all of this and to live on. Having a job and especially if you can have a job with a place that is tolerant is a must. If you don’t have one, get one and keep it. I see all too often girls that start transition without a clue as to where the money will come from.
After this, everything else, at least for me, was secondary. Friends and family will come on board or go away only to possibly come back. I actually have more friends now than ever before. Transition is not easy, no matter how rich or poor you may be. A lot of what happens is what you put into it. This is something for the long haul and is worth the time and patience worthy of any project.
It is something we dream of all of our lives and spend a lifetime in fulfilling.
Everyone reading this will have a different definition of full time but for me it was the decision to live as a woman, all the time. This revelation came after a meeting with Jennifer, my mentor from a transition group in Springfield, Missouri. The discussion revolved around what I told her about my weekly activities and my weekly dinner with my parent where we would usually go out to eat. I was going in “boy” mode those times and that was the only time I would do so. When Jenifer asked me why I did that for, I found myself without a logical answer. The decision was made then and there to forgo the boy mode day for them as eventually it would have to go away anyway. I came home, packed up all the “male” stuff and I mean all of it and either tossed it in the dumpster or gave it to the Goodwill.
Now mind you this happened about three months before I got my legal name change and started HRT but as far as I am concerned this was the start of the great change. I had tons of clothes and stuff from my former self that no longer held any use or meaning in my life. This included a lot of Boy Scout stuff as all of it went into the trash. (BTW I was an Eagle Scout and the only reason I stayed with it was to prove to my brothers that I wasn’t a pussy). Over the next several months, HRT was started, the name was legally changed in open court, and I started hair removal while the effects of hormones where constantly changing my body.
I think the one thing that has stuck out in all of this is the need for planning this out. I never really had it written out but knew what had to be done and knew that I had to be flexible as things will always change. If I can offer any advice it is to have an idea of what you want to do and make a conscience decision and stick with it no matter what. The first and foremost thing for me was to have a source of money to do all of this and to live on. Having a job and especially if you can have a job with a place that is tolerant is a must. If you don’t have one, get one and keep it. I see all too often girls that start transition without a clue as to where the money will come from.
After this, everything else, at least for me, was secondary. Friends and family will come on board or go away only to possibly come back. I actually have more friends now than ever before. Transition is not easy, no matter how rich or poor you may be. A lot of what happens is what you put into it. This is something for the long haul and is worth the time and patience worthy of any project.
It is something we dream of all of our lives and spend a lifetime in fulfilling.
