And here goes nothing

[Colleen_definitely]

I have a coworker who transitioned a couple years ago, apparently it took her 30 minutes to get to her desk with everyone asking her questions about me.

I sent out an email Friday to the people I work with most often giving them a personalized heads up, and the reactions were either good or absent.  (but mostly good)  Now to get with IT and HR in a couple of hours to sort out switching computer systems over.

[Laurie]

  Interesting that your co worker was the one inundated with questions. I'm glad things are going well so far for you Coleen.

Hugs,
  Laurie

[Colleen_definitely]

She actually works in our USA base office, where I am based out of my house near Kansas City so she's way easier to get to.  I haven't actually been there since March of 2016 now that I look at it.

I let a long time customer know about this today and got a "Well now there's an email you don't get every day!" response.  He's a jokester and is supportive but is having fun with the situation as usual.

[Laurie]

Ahhhh Thanks Colleen, now it makes a bit more sense.

[Colleen_definitely]

On one hand I'm effectively an orphan now.


On the other, I finally have that excuse to go be a crime fighting superhero. Take the good with the soul crushing I guess.. 

Merry g-d Christmas

[Faith]

On one hand I'm effectively an orphan now.


On the other, I finally have that excuse to go be a crime fighting superhero. Take the good with the soul crushing I guess.. 

Merry g-d Christmas

aww, that sound depressing. Come to Florida, my door is open all Christmas.

[Colleen_definitely]

Thanks Faith, but I'll be at home. I average about 1.5 flights per week for work so another TSA feeling up is the last thing I want. My girlfriend's family is very accepting, I'm just venting about my immediate family and their bigoted reinterpretation of the bible.

[Devlyn]

Maybe I should talk to them, I'm currently enslaving, er, I mean recruiting  Devyl's Dyscyples. It's the only religion worth having! 

Hugs, Devlyn

[Cheaney]

I'm so sorry to hear this Colleen. I haven't told my family but I feel like this could be the last Christmas I have with them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Colleen_definitely]

Hopefully your family is more like my girlfriend's and my extended family.  Nobody deserves to have people like my father.


But in any case I'm burning this bridge.  I sent this letter out to my dad today.  (Before you people get the wrong impression: I honestly have no problem with religion except when it is used as an excuse to be a bigot, though I am pretty hard on it in this letter.)

Too personal, probably shouldn't have been posted

[rmaddy]

Well, that oughta do it...

[Allison S]

I'm so sorry to hear this Colleen. I haven't told my family but I feel like this could be the last Christmas I have with them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm feeling this way too
I may have to find a family elsewhere that will accept me for who i am

And wow Colleen I loved the happy ending in your letter. You went through a lot to get to where you are now and deserve every moment of being who you truly are meant to be!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Laurie]

 Colleen,

  I wish I could do something like this too. But I love my daughter and always will even though she no longer loves me. I am glad you found a way to deal with your father.

Hugs,
   Laurie

[Colleen_definitely]

And wow Colleen I loved the happy ending in your letter.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic but I thought it was pretty bitter and a bit over the top as far as accusatory tone went.

Anyway I suppose I kind of expected this to end this way, but I am disappointed at my father's cowardice.


Laurie, I hope you never have to be the one to reject a family member.  It sucks, almost as bad as being rejected.  Sadly this seems to be our lot in life as trans folk.

[Allison S]

No? I can't wait to be able to be comfortable with myself enough in public. You're not where you want to be in your life regarding your dad. I'm sorry for that and I hope that he finds it in his heart to be accepting. You deserve that!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Colleen_definitely]

Ooooh, that part.  Sorry I misunderstood.

Yes being the genuine me is completely awesome, family interactions aside.  You'll get there, it just takes time and practice helps a lot.

[Colleen_definitely]

51 weeks later...

Still haven't heard back from my father, no big surprise in retrospect.

Extended family is 50/50 on acceptance.

My brother is a bigot.

My sister is now non-accepting based upon her "root word analysis" of the bible.  Whatever that means.  (hint: confirmation bias)

As for me?  I'm doing great.  SRS is next week, FFS is happening in December.  Work is going well, other than my boss freaking out wondering how he's going to fill the massive hole I'm leaving for 6-8 weeks while I'm recovering from SRS.  I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of remote work during recovery.


Looking back I still think that sending letters was the way to go, but I should have just saved the money on books that those people wouldn't read anyway.

[Dena]

If you have a laptop, working from home shouldn't be a big issue as long as you don't have to work a solid block of time. Sitting for long periods of time would be uncomfortable but you can lay back with the laptop and do work. In addition, dilation will provide numerous interruptions but if you can put work on hold, it shouldn't be a problem. About 2 days after surgery boredom can set in so work or entertainment are a good solution.

[Colleen_definitely]

That's pretty much what I'm thinking.  I have a feeling I'm going to get really bored without it.  I have my work laptop so I can do remote work without issue.  I told the boss to not expect me to do remote work for the first week, but not long after that I should be OK.

The problem is I work on a lot of things where I'm the only person in the region with knowledge on it, and am one of two in the USA who knows what they're doing with them so I'm in demand.  Some of the mechanical/automation problems are difficult to figure out without being on site but remote is better than nothing.

[JudiBlueEyes]

51 weeks later...

As for me?  I'm doing great.  SRS is next week, FFS is happening in December. 

Awesome news!  Exciting times ahead.  Healing can be a bit boring but sounds like you will be engaged in some work effort to stay busy.  I'm happy for you!
Judi