Living for the First Time, Again: It's a Wonderful Life

I have been saying it since I finally started to take my transition seriously a few months ago, but I have been reminded of it so often over the last few days, that I must again mention how blessed I feel to have the love and support of so many people in my life. This last week has been so amazing. From work to my personal life, events have taken on a life of their own, and things just seem to continue to fall into place. The encouragement has been so overwhelming that even the little cynic in the back of my mind is having trouble maintaining her doubts.

We hosted our first annual Rocky Horror Party (“The Master’s Ball”) Saturday night. We enjoy hosting parties, so we do it as often as we can; and in many ways, this should have been just another party for us. The way events unfolded over the last few weeks, though, this party turned into a pretty big deal. The significance of the event covered everything from the fact that it was the first such party ever hosted by me (not Kyle), to the reality of meeting new friends who will only ever know the real me - Kate, to welcoming coworkers into my real life who have only ever known me as Kyle.

With all the momentousness of the evening, I expected to be extremely nervous – especially with exposing work colleagues to my world. Oddly enough, though, I didn’t feel anxious at all… okay, not true. I was worried about having everything prepared and set up in time for the party, but I always worry about that! In fact, the closer party time approached, and the closer I was to being ready, the more comfortable I became. I can honestly say that with one unrelated exception (which I will explain later); there wasn’t a single moment of weirdness. It felt like any normal evening with friends, and I think my friends – old and new – felt the same way.

Possibly the most exciting outcome of the evening was that we made new friends. This is exciting for me, because they are the first such friends I have made. They are the first people I have met who met Kate… not Kyle, or even Kyle dressing like Kate. To them, I will have been Kate from the day we met. That thought just blows me away.

During our typical Sunday morning (afternoon) post-party review, another interesting thought occurred to me. I heard over and over again from various party guests (most of them) how wonderful I looked, how “hot” I was, how much they loved my dress… and on, and on. It went on all evening. But what made me feel the best, and what I found myself discussing the following day were all the compliments on the food and drinks I prepared. Those were the comments that really stuck, and they were the ones that made my night.

Don’t get me wrong; hearing that I looked good was certainly gratifying (especially from coworkers). What woman doesn’t enjoy that? J I think it’s just that my confidence in myself has grown enough that those comments don’t bowl me over the way they once did.

Okay campers, enough for one post. I have so much more to share, but I know how 21^st century attention spans work… so I’ll go for the hook instead!

Still to come fort Kat-Girl (get it?) J…

What was that “one unrelated exception?” What kind of weirdness is in store for our hero?
Back to work… and a new life. What happened in that conversation with human resources?
And, of course, the count down continues. Fewer than 48 hours remain before our hero meets her counselor for the first time. Will it be love at first plight?

Tune in next time, same Kat time… same Kat channel!

Ciao babies!
Kate

Picture pages, picture pages... lots of fun with picture pages!

A few pics from the Rocky Horror Party...