A New Level of Acceptance

[melissacd]

In my journey over the past few years since I separated from my wife of 25 years I have slowly worked towards getting more and more comfortable with my femme side to the point where I live much of my life femme and do not have any male clothes anymore.

I have been accepted and seen by my sisters, my GF, my GF's children and her family and friends, I am out and about freely at local stores, restaurants, theatres without any issue at all. More recently, I decided that I wanted to lose some weight so I emailed a local chapter of a weight loss group asking if they had any issue with me showing up femme and they were fine with that...so I showed up at a meeting dressed femme and they were all made aware that I am a transgendered male and much to my surprise all of the women in the group (as there are no other men there) welcomed me with open arms. I wasn't sure if that was just an initial novelty type of response but I have been going now for four weeks and each week I am as welcome as the last and they genuinely talk to me and treat me the same as all the other women there. In fact, there is an all day event coming up in a few weeks and they not only asked if I would go but one of the girls asked if we could share a ride to the event.

I am quite honestly overwhelmed at such a level of acceptance from a group of people who have no motivation such as customer service or making a sale. I feel like I belong and can be a functioning member of the group and see this as a further stepping stone towards being able to participate in other groups of common interest.

Just thought that I would share this with the group to hopefully encourage other girls to confidently step out into the world, once you can get past your fears and concerns or perhaps even in spite of them, you will find there is a world of fulfillment out there.

Melissa

[Rianna Humble]

Thank you for sharing that with us, Melissa! It is always encouraging when we find real acceptance for who we are.

[suzy1]

This is a lovely post. Personally I have no need to go out dressed but I can relate to your experience.
I would also like to thank you for shearing your experience with us.

SUZY

[AKAMichelle]

That sounds wonderful that they accepted you into their fold. I think being able to talk with women on that level is the best part of cd'ing.

[Christy_M]

I agree with the others..this is an inspiring post that gives me hope that I can find an environment similar to this as I get out and about more often. Thank you for sharing.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Melissa, Just one of the girls it must feel wonderful to be accepted.

Orchid

[Marissa]

Do thank you for sharing such a delightful story.. knowing that your life is going in such a positive direction..

Hugs,
Marissa

[melissacd]

I want to thank all of you who have replied so far. I have now made a friend within the group who is corresponding with me by email. She has accepted me as a female within the group and has in fact said that I am an inspiration to her. At first that puzzled me but then she said that she was impressed not only that I had taken on the challenge of losing weight and that I was successfully doing this, but that I chose to do it full femme within the group. She is inspired by my courage, my tenacity and my friendliness to all the other girls in the group. I was taken aback by just how much impact something as simple as attending a weight loss group could be. I will be attending an all day event that they are having tomorrow and will be carpooling with three of the other girls to the event. This just gets better every week.

[audreyinalbany]

does anyone else here think that it seems to be easier for gg's to accept crossdressing and transgender issues when they have a little emotional distance? My wife is all about diversity, she's got several gay friends whom she simply adores, yet when it comes to my dressing, the barriers go up and she gets upset. I've talked with one gg friend about it and interacted with a few gg's when en femme, and, to them, it's no big deal...

[melissacd]

Well I went to TOPS fest today and it was an amazing experience on so many levels. It was great in the sense of being with others who are striving for the same weight loss and lifestyle changes to attain and maintain that weight loss, as well as, the inspirational aspects of the various stories that were told about different people's weight loss journey's. Then there was the general sense of community I felt, though there were a few raised eyebrows, for the most part the larger group of many chapters of TOPS members just accepted me as a female. They treated me with friendship, kindness and respect. I found that I became much closer to the chapter that I now belong to and there was even one women at the event who said that she was really impressed with how well put together my look was.

It was all in all a great day and another step in my journey towards just living and being accepted as Melissa.

I am very happy and content with how well I fit in just being me.

Melissa