I understand the context in which this question was asked i.e. transitioning from one gender to the other but in the broader scheme of things, everyone whether trans or not is in transition from the moment of birth until the day we die. Change is the nature of and cycle of life.
I transitioned young in reference to the trans thing. If we want to break this down, I had always expressed myself as a girl and if one should want to get really technical, maybe it was after the 2nd grade when I was allowed to begin growing out my hair at a time when boys just didn't do these things that my presentation began to more reflect my inner nature? It was not until I was 15, however, that things became clearly overt and the defined stereotypical gender boundaries were unapologetically crossed. I got my ears pierced, shaved my legs, got my brows done and wore progressively more feminine clothes and already had pretty blonde hair several inches well beyond my shoulders. I started hormones after the 11th grade and by the time I graduated was more than ready to complete my transition to a new name and pronouns and that's what I did.
Was this the end of my transition? In a way it was but only one of many. Gone were the quizzical looks of people wondering if I was a boy or a girl and socially my life completely turned around and became a million times more normal but I was still growing and changing and learning about life and work and how to get by. Was it several years later when I had SRS at 22 that my transition was over? Was it several years after that when I was around 28 and had my boobs done?
I had gone from a teenage girl to a young woman. From a lowly clerk to a manager supervising others. From dirt poor worrying about food and a roof over my head to some degree of stability and freedom to do the things I wanted to do but then my life went through transition again. From a footloose and fancy free chick that liked to party to a responsible, settled down married woman with a husband and a mortgage and the roles of a housewife with a full time job. Transitions, transitions, transitions.
As the years passed, I found myself once again being reinvented as a mid-40's divorcee on my own struggling again to redefine myself and for a while, lived the fast drugs, sex and rock and roll lifestyle until finding a degree of balance and going through several 5-year, live together relationships and starting my own business. Change, change and more change.
And now six months out from my 63rd birthday, I'm changing again. After a lifetime of being oblivious and deeply closeted, I've joined this and another trans forum for the very first time in my life to learn more about others that have walked a similar path when I was never interested before. As gravity takes its toll, as my boobs aren't perky as they used to be, as my middle has thickened and as I see signs that my face is beginning to slide off my skull and my looks are beginning to fade, I am in transition yet again to the mature years of my life so it never ends and is on-going.
So, is my transition over? I hope I don't stop growing and changing until the day I die
