Another great day out and some food for thought !
I probably don't have to remind people but my old home town is still a problem at times to me , well a spur of the moment decision to do something about it .
Part of the problem is my ongoing debate about attending my painting group as Teresa , the problem being if other members didn't accept the situation and enough people dropped out the class could be withdrawn . This morning I had so many small jobs to do assciated with my home renovation I realised I could do most of them in my old town and possibly drop into the Art Centre to have coffee with my group . I was intending to wear a cotton skirt with Tshirt and wedges but it was so cold and windy I had to accept jeans , Tshirt with a cardiagan and jacket with ankle boots , otherwise I put my normal amount of makeup on . The first job was top up with fuel at the self service pump , I then parked and just made it for their coffee break , the first person who saw me was a lady I'd known the longest she couldn't work out who the blond lady was smiling at her until the penny dropped , the same happened again with another old friend . The lovely girl at the coffee shop didn't realise who I was until I spoke ( which is a point I want to come back to ) . The rest of the group soon felt comfortable and we all chatted as normal , I had to smile as appearing dressed does change the style of conversation people have with you , the inevitable one about makeup came up .
After the coffee break I wanted to see the results of the latest project so followed them upstairs to the art room , within a few minutes I was working round the group and offering suggestions and this is where the point about changing you voice came up . There was no point in even attempting it , all the people knew me so talking in a differnt voice would have appeared to be odd to them , they were all perfectly comfortable with me being dressed as Teresa , the real point is they wanted to tallk about their projects and possibly get some help . To me this was the ideal situation , I know now I can run my own group and be accpeted , what I look like and sound like is secondary to them .
After I'd said my goodbyes I decided to catch with an old friend who runs a costume /fancy dress shop, I haven't seen her for about a year . She saw me walk in and stepped from behind the counter to give me a huge hug , she then said , " I'm so proud of you , you look wonderful , your smile says it all !" We chatted for several minutes in general before she stated that she could see I'm happy and very confident but was I thinking of going any further ? I told her I didn't think so as I feel very comfortable with my situation and doubted if hormones or possibly surgery was necessary . She then said , " Please don't , or at least think very hard , as I have two friends who were happy like you but felt they needed to transition , they are are both now very unhappy people ! They've got over the surgery but what's really getting to them is the isolation , they have what they wanted but no one to share it with !" I didn't see her mother sitting at the far end of the counter but she added to the conversation by saying , " It's actually easier to support a transgender than it is a transsexual , the family promise support but after surgery too much has changed !"
After a hug from both of them I had a walk through the High Street before heading to my new home town where I had to drop in at my local Screwfix to buy door furniture and then onto the builders merchant for a couple of lengths of woodtrim .
It was a great day but also some food for thought !
