I can't believe that it was thirty one years ago today that I turned up in work in a two piece skirt outfit feeling incredibly nervous but also very committed to dealing with anything that happened that or subsequent days. the official grapevine had informed people what was going to happen and I must admit most of the comments I received were encouraging. I wasn't the first in the NHS to have transitioned, but in sleepy West Dorset, I was a bit of a novelty for a while.
I wasn't quite a pioneer, more a second wave member, so by 1986 when I did it, it wasn't quite the same outrageous sort of occurrence it might have been seen as ten or twenty years earlier, but it was certainly more risky than it is today, when the press seem to carry a story every other day. That it happened on Bastille Day was pure coincidence and really due to my then General Manager saying that rumours were abounding and he didn't want me to take months over actually doing it. So having got the go ahead, I did it a week later--so much for forward planning!
My family and friends have been a huge support ever since then and still are and I'd like to thank them for all the love they've shown me.
Comments
:)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Congrats!
And many hugs! :-D
Red MacDonald
Congratulations to you.
I am happy that you've been able to make a go of it and that you are contented.
It's been round not quite 14 years for me and this morning I wakened with a tummy ache and harboring the thought that I should return to my old life, as laughable as it was. Perhaps a good dose of Laudanum will ease that.
Yayyyyyy!
27 years full time for me and despite it all it is well worth it.
Congratulations hon ^_^
A little fame is okay
Of course you were shown love. You are that sort of person.
Karen
Hardest
The first step, in anything, is hard. As humans, we're programmed to seek comfort and safety. We're also programmed to seek community, hence very sensitive to the opinions of those around us. Stepping outside the bounds of our protective environment is a big step. It may not be physically the hardest, but without it, you won't get to those and nothing will have changed.
happy anniversary
31 years ? Fantastic !
Jumping that hurdle
So I had let the rumours build, deliberately, then let them die down a bit, before Steph turned up one June 6th (deliberate choice) at work. It wasn't easy, it never is. As Ang says, it wasn't planned in any forward manner. It just needed to be done. Guessing at her viewpoint... Do I look back? Yup. More in a sort of nostalgia than anything else. Do I regret making that leap into the void? Do I hell! My only regret is that I should have done it so many years earlier..
Congratulations, my friend.
Decadence
When I was young I thought "decadence" was an excessive indulgence in pleasure.
Now that I'm older than all of the trees in my neighborhood I realize the "decadence" is the fancy footwork we employ to talk about things that occurred decades ago. You casually talk about the risk you took. I'm sure it was extremely risky. I'm in awe of your willingness to be a pioneer.
We had a president who said it best. I've had Teddy Roosevelt's words on my wall for three decades. I remember the day I first hung them. It was in the same year when you made your bold move. Perhaps I was thinking of you, even though we've still not met and I didn't know you existed until many years later. I certainly was thinking of someone quite like you!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
I hope your life is as tranquil now as you deserve.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Happy 31st Angharad
I suspect that the love you've been shown says a great deal about you as a person rather than any more general reaction of the public to those who transition. Thank you for sharing.
Rhona McCloud
These teenage years.....again.
Hi everyone, I am happy to say that 2003 in Montreal with Dr Menard was the year for me! Better late than never as they say but results are wonderful. So, like Gwen, I am slowly approaching my 14th birthday and am enjoying every moment. Still being a senior activist but slowing down a bit. Best wishes to all from NJ.
Carol Anne