Yep,
12 hours out and about as Melissa, traversed half the country, ran across people I knew, and nada, nothing, nobody noticed me or cared. Not one police helicopter or anything! it was a wonderful day.
I tried to post this for the last today's but the forum upgrade attempt ate my post. On Tuesday I had to fly from Phoenix to Pittsburgh for a business trip. Although I attempted to come out to my wife about a year and a half ago, that ended up not going so well. It's a long story and needs its own thread, but I am firmly back in the closet, at least as far as my wife is concerned. I tried and failed to give up this part of me, but it isn't going anywhere at least not anytime soon. Anyhow, timing and logistics finally worked out for me, so I was able to kiss my family good bye, go to the office for a little bit and then leave for the airport and change on the way.
I was a little nervous when I got to the airport. Not because I am afraid of being me, but because I am afraid of some idiot who decides to make a big deal of seeing a trans person then posting all over the internet and it somehow getting back to my wife, who I know would be completely crushed. This caused me to be a little bit of a disheveled mess crossing the parking lot, I was momentarily feeling like a guerilla in a dress and of course this is when my favorite set of heels decided to act up and my foot kept slipping out of the shoe and I stumbled a number of times. But after climbing the escalator to take the tram from parking to the terminal I had a moment to collect myself and things turned around for me..
As I got to the top of the stairs, I did, I just had to pull over for a minute and collect myself. With a renewed confidence I headed over to the loading area for the tram. In Phoenix, the tram station is outdoors and in order to keep people from melting they have several giant overhead fans that blow down to keep you cool. This brought me my first smile of the day. I can't say that I have ever had to worry about my clothes blowing in the wind and showing my modest parts, but these fans were causing my skirt to dance around and I figured I better put a hand down and keep things under control before I had an issue. It was a fun moment to be wearing what I am comfortable in and to just feel the breeze playing with my skirt. So the tram arrived and I was off to my terminal building.
Because of all the make up, and make up remover that I had, that and my male toiletries weren't going to fit in a one quart bag, I had to check my bag. So I went down to the ticketing counter and got that taken care of. It went without incident. I then headed back up stairs to go through security. I am fairly certain the TSA agent who check my ID didn't even really look at it. I think all he did was make sure the letters of my name on my license matched that of my ticket, because he hardly glanced up and just said have a nice day ma'am. Next was the x-ray scanner and that wasn't an issue at all, I passed right through and didn't even require a pat down. I was foam breast enhancers in my bra and that apparently didn't trigger an additional inspection as I thought it might.
I was early, I am always afraid of missing my plane, so I arrived at my gate about an hour and a half early. I did what I usually do and just sat and people watched and from what I could tell nobody was really watching me. I saw two gentlemen who had both been there about an hour at different points who's gaze seemed to dwell on me for a while. Not approving or disapproving just lingering to try and figure out who they were seeing. About 45 minutes to go, I had something unexpected happen. A person I know, (works for a different company, and lives in a different state) shows up. Apparently, he had a connecting flight through Phoenix. As things would have it, he even got right behind me when it was time to board. Eek! Well he never recognized me and I was sure to just treat him just like the thousands of other perfect strangers I have board a plane with in the past. I got on and found my seat by the window. I like window seats and just settled in. I had two gentlemen sit next to me, but neither of them or the flight attendants ever treated me different. I read a book, watched a little bit of a movie and took a cat nap. It was wonderful to just be able to kick off my heels and relax for the flight.
We arrived in Pittsburgh on time. I found the family bathroom and freshened up a bit, to my surprise my makeup was fairing really well. Then it was off to get my bag and grab a taxi. I found the taxi island and the attendant ask, "Where are you headed this evening miss"? and then wished me a pleasant evening as he closed the door for me. The cab driver and I made some small talk on the way to the hotel. We talked about the weather, where I was from, where he was from, and the purpose for my trip. Soon we arrived at the hotel. And I was in for another surprise. Now before I go on let me caveat this. I know that I would probably run across at least one or two people who were going to attend thins meeting. But I have been to lots of these meetings. We are all nerds and hang out in our rooms, and go out for dinner and during the course of years of meeting with these people I rarely see more than one or two wandering around the hotel. That was not to be the case this evening.
I was focused on paying the cab driver and was a little taken aback when I stepped out and almost right into entire group of my coworkers (from by company, but different sites) they were on their way out to dinner. I passed by them without incident and made it to the registration desk. Passed a couple of more people along the way. My exchange with the clerk at the registration desk was a little fun. She asked for my last name, them my ID and Credit Card. I handed them over and of course they had my male name and information on it. She then asked how many keys I needed and placed them in the little envelope with my room number written on it. Here was the funny part. She told that there was one key for me, and one for my husband when he arrived.I think that made my day.
Off to the elevator and here is yet another meeting attendee and I rode up with him, he got off at another floor from mine. Got to my room and dropped my stuff and then decided that since it was dark, I was hungry, and not ready to give up being Millie yet, I decided to head back down to the hotel restaurant. Again, knowing this group of people, I am about the only one who ever eats at the hotel. But low and behold there is probably another half dozen people I know there, a couple of them rather well, and one who I know to usually be quiet attentive to what is around him. But I manage to have a quiet dinner. A nice spinach, walnut, and blue cheese salads served with grilled steak and a nice glass of wine.
Then it was back to my room and the sadder part of my day. It was time to undress and remove my makeup. My family wanted to do a video call and I miss them as much as they do me. So off came Melissa, I have only dressed a handful of times at this point and it I am always sad that the day has to end. But I would not trade my family for anything so it really isn't that big a deal. What was a big deal was that the hotel was having serious internet issues and I couldn't get my phone on the network so we could do a video call, so we just ended up chatting the old fashion way. Then it was time to whip out the laptop and get some work done before heading off to bed. Oh, I forgot to mention, that guy who went up the elevator with me, well he ended up in the elevator again when I was going down to eat.
So I have been here for two days and if anybody noticed me, they have never let on.
Tonight is my last night here and most of the crew went out for a group dinner. So I took the opportunity to go out as Melissa for dinner by myself. There is a square near by that has lots of places to eat and I walked over there. I had to stop and get some finger nail polish remover because I was running low and some lip stick to match my top. The clerk at the drug stored sir'd me. And another person sir'd me along the way to the market square. For some reason, passing while I am Melissa is really important to me, I know I don't hold up under close inspection, but it came as a real blow and I was about in tears by the time I made it to my restaurant. I did have a nice dinner however and the hostess and waitress just treated me like a normal person. The weather was nice though threatening to rain. I decided to risk it and ate outside.
I then went for a walk along a park by the river before it got to dark and headed back to my hotel.
Now it is time for me to get back to work and try and get caught up for the evening. Here are a couple of shots from my trip out.
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Thanks so much for letting me share.
-Millie
