Ceera
09-02-2017, 12:54 PM
Yesterday I took a road trip en-femme - the longest en-femme driving trip I have done so far. I spent 12+ hours as Ceera, while driving from the town I live in to the town I was born in, which is at least a 2 hour drive away with good traffic conditions. It was the first time for me to visit the town of my birth as a female. I had been avoiding travel to Portland, Oregon because that is where most of my family lives (sister and her husband, three nieces and a nephew and their spouses and kids, and two sisters in law and their husbands). And until recently I wasn't out to any of those relatives. But now everyone there except the two sisters in law's families knows about me becoming Ceera, and the two sisters in law are quite liberal and unlikely to care when they do find out, so I really had no reason to avoid traveling there any more.
The main reason for the trip was to attend a Veterans Affairs clinical support group meeting for LGBTQ veterans. I served in the US Navy back in the 1970's, just after the Vietnam war. I wasn't in for very long, served during peacetime, and I was never injured or rated as disabled by the military, but I did get an honorable discharge. After I got out, I used the GI Bill to help pay for college, but I really didn't ask the VA for any other services. For most of my life I've had good jobs and good insurance, so I didn't need or qualify for their assistance.
Well, a year ago I lost my good job, and I've been unemployed since then. At 60, I can't find a new job and am too close to retirement age to get seriously considered by new employers. Also, in my last job the place I worked for over 14 years didn't upgrade their infrastructure, and they restricted what each IT person did to narrow specialties, so my skill as a Systems Administrator got somewhat dated. Bottom line, I've essentially ended up in early retirement, and am living off my investments and savings. But with my reduced income and lack of insurance, I should qualify for free health insurance and services through the VA now. So this last month I reached out to them, and last week I put in my applications to enroll for VA healthcare and insurance. They're still processing my request, but it looks like I'll be accepted. And the VA outreach liaison person I was dealing with suggested I should go to this meeting in Portland, to make some initial contacts.
So... By 9:30 AM yesterday I was all dolled up and out the door, for an all-day road trip. I wore a nice mid-thigh dark blue denim skirt, a dark blue cap-sleeve blouse, and blue block-heel sandals with 4" heels. I wore cute dangly earrings and a necklace, both with a fox motif, and gold butterfly hair clips. My finger nails were done in dark blue with gold sparkly glitter, and toenails in a similar dark blue glittery polish. I had my makeup with me in case I needed a touch-up, and had a pair of sneakers and anklet socks in the car in case the heels got to be too much for my feet to continue wearing them. But no change of male clothes, and no way to revert to a male appearance and dress, short of buying new clothes! I didn't even bring any makeup remover wipes!
I drove up the main interstate highway for 90 minutes, to the south edge of Portland, and stopped at The Container Store. (That is the nearest of those stores to the town I currently live in, and I don't get to shop there often. When I did in the past, it had always been as a male.) I planned to get new hangers and some spring form inserts to keep my boots nice and straight in the closet. I found them, and also found a 36-pair shoe organizer rack to hang on my closet door After putting my purchases in the car, I walked two blocks to a PF Chang's Chinese restaurant, for a lovely lunch of dim-sum pot stickers, egg rolls, and hot Sake. (See photos) Used the ladies' room there and hit the road again.
Next stop was Lloyd Center - the large mall I grew up shopping at. It was conveniently close to where the VA meeting would be held, and made a good staging point if I needed a restroom or needed to kill some time before the 2:30 meeting. Traffic into town was abomnible! One streach of freeway took 10 minutes to travel just barely over two miles! But there was no avoiding that route, and I had budgeted some extra time in case that happened. By the time I got to the mall, I just had time for a bathroom break at Macy's, and then had to head for the meeting.
The VA meeting was all right, but not very productive. I did get some good advice on dealing with VA doctors and getting background information recorded in my official files. And another FtM trans lady there had some good advice on a hormone treatment she was using for testosterone blocking. But since I was still waiting for my own approval to start treatment, they couldn't do much to help me yet.
After the meeting, I went back to the mall and shopped for a while. It was very interesting, walking around that familiar place from my childhood, but now as a woman! Took a selfie with the ice skating rink I skated on as a child in the background. Bought a couple of cute blouses, and a few other things, stashed them in my car, and finally switched to my tennis shoes. Went back into the mall, to shop some more and seek food, but it was a bit early to get dinner, and nothing really interested me food wise or purchase-wise. One restaurant I had hoped to dine at had been replaced with something completely different. So I went back to my car, and decided to take a different route back home, to avoid the downtown freeway traffic.
Didn't find a place to eat as I left town, so headed for home and stopped in Salem on the way back, to eat at a good pizza parlor I knew of there. Then back on the road, and home I went. I got home after 10 PM. So the entire day was spent en-femme.
The entire trip, no one treated me as anything but a normal woman. No odd looks or rude comments, not even from children or teenagers. It was so pleasant to spend the entire day en-femme and be accepted as the woman that I want to be!
The main reason for the trip was to attend a Veterans Affairs clinical support group meeting for LGBTQ veterans. I served in the US Navy back in the 1970's, just after the Vietnam war. I wasn't in for very long, served during peacetime, and I was never injured or rated as disabled by the military, but I did get an honorable discharge. After I got out, I used the GI Bill to help pay for college, but I really didn't ask the VA for any other services. For most of my life I've had good jobs and good insurance, so I didn't need or qualify for their assistance.
Well, a year ago I lost my good job, and I've been unemployed since then. At 60, I can't find a new job and am too close to retirement age to get seriously considered by new employers. Also, in my last job the place I worked for over 14 years didn't upgrade their infrastructure, and they restricted what each IT person did to narrow specialties, so my skill as a Systems Administrator got somewhat dated. Bottom line, I've essentially ended up in early retirement, and am living off my investments and savings. But with my reduced income and lack of insurance, I should qualify for free health insurance and services through the VA now. So this last month I reached out to them, and last week I put in my applications to enroll for VA healthcare and insurance. They're still processing my request, but it looks like I'll be accepted. And the VA outreach liaison person I was dealing with suggested I should go to this meeting in Portland, to make some initial contacts.
So... By 9:30 AM yesterday I was all dolled up and out the door, for an all-day road trip. I wore a nice mid-thigh dark blue denim skirt, a dark blue cap-sleeve blouse, and blue block-heel sandals with 4" heels. I wore cute dangly earrings and a necklace, both with a fox motif, and gold butterfly hair clips. My finger nails were done in dark blue with gold sparkly glitter, and toenails in a similar dark blue glittery polish. I had my makeup with me in case I needed a touch-up, and had a pair of sneakers and anklet socks in the car in case the heels got to be too much for my feet to continue wearing them. But no change of male clothes, and no way to revert to a male appearance and dress, short of buying new clothes! I didn't even bring any makeup remover wipes!
I drove up the main interstate highway for 90 minutes, to the south edge of Portland, and stopped at The Container Store. (That is the nearest of those stores to the town I currently live in, and I don't get to shop there often. When I did in the past, it had always been as a male.) I planned to get new hangers and some spring form inserts to keep my boots nice and straight in the closet. I found them, and also found a 36-pair shoe organizer rack to hang on my closet door After putting my purchases in the car, I walked two blocks to a PF Chang's Chinese restaurant, for a lovely lunch of dim-sum pot stickers, egg rolls, and hot Sake. (See photos) Used the ladies' room there and hit the road again.
Next stop was Lloyd Center - the large mall I grew up shopping at. It was conveniently close to where the VA meeting would be held, and made a good staging point if I needed a restroom or needed to kill some time before the 2:30 meeting. Traffic into town was abomnible! One streach of freeway took 10 minutes to travel just barely over two miles! But there was no avoiding that route, and I had budgeted some extra time in case that happened. By the time I got to the mall, I just had time for a bathroom break at Macy's, and then had to head for the meeting.
The VA meeting was all right, but not very productive. I did get some good advice on dealing with VA doctors and getting background information recorded in my official files. And another FtM trans lady there had some good advice on a hormone treatment she was using for testosterone blocking. But since I was still waiting for my own approval to start treatment, they couldn't do much to help me yet.
After the meeting, I went back to the mall and shopped for a while. It was very interesting, walking around that familiar place from my childhood, but now as a woman! Took a selfie with the ice skating rink I skated on as a child in the background. Bought a couple of cute blouses, and a few other things, stashed them in my car, and finally switched to my tennis shoes. Went back into the mall, to shop some more and seek food, but it was a bit early to get dinner, and nothing really interested me food wise or purchase-wise. One restaurant I had hoped to dine at had been replaced with something completely different. So I went back to my car, and decided to take a different route back home, to avoid the downtown freeway traffic.
Didn't find a place to eat as I left town, so headed for home and stopped in Salem on the way back, to eat at a good pizza parlor I knew of there. Then back on the road, and home I went. I got home after 10 PM. So the entire day was spent en-femme.
The entire trip, no one treated me as anything but a normal woman. No odd looks or rude comments, not even from children or teenagers. It was so pleasant to spend the entire day en-femme and be accepted as the woman that I want to be!