I've been coming out as transgender to family and friends in advance of my 70th birthday. So far it's all been nothing but some surprise, lots of positive reactions, and more support and love than I might have expected. Yes, it's been a long time coming but I guess things move at their own pace, most of the time. It took years to get here and now it's moving rather quickly.
Yesterday as I was coming home from a counseling session I got a call from my landscape guy who was at my house fixing a small problem. I picked him because his wife is a former co-worker. A few months ago that kind of call would throw me into panic mode as I came up with lies and excuses of why I couldn't be there to let him in the house to examine the sprinkler timer. But I came out to them a couple weeks ago and I went straight home where it was just business and catching up. Later his wife sent me a text saying he described me as "beautiful", their words, not mine. I felt pretty normal and dressed casual to blend in with only minimal makeup in the heat of the day.
This morning I sent an email with a Sarah photo to an old friend who I recently told but probably won't be seeing me anytime soon. Seeing the message "Email has been sent" didn't even cause butterflies, how odd is that?
So is this what life can be like when you are open and honest about who you are? I know I'm not very bright, but I keep thinking this lesson took a lot longer than it should have. It didn't, of course, since many things in life have changed over the years and many of the issues I saw as risks in the past no longer exist, except as memories or unfounded fears.