Thank you all for the nice comments!
Though there are few really big challenges to address - some of them the biggest there are! - I'm reminded almost every day that there are new things to address and new milestones to pass. Things that would be completely insignificant to anyone not going through what we are.
In the last two days:
I was reminded that the insurance policy for the plane I built still has my old name on it. The policy is held by the owner, but I'm a "named pilot" so everything is covered while I'm flying it. I emailed the broker and spelled it all out - here's the old name, here's the new name, here's the proof. The word "transgender" wasn't used, but the implication was obvious. Within a half hour I received an email addressed to Stephanie, with the promise it would be corrected immediately. One more down.
I have custody of that plane now to make some minor repairs. Through strange coincidences the woman who helps run the company was a peripheral acquaintance of mine in the "old days." She was smiley as I reintroduced myself to her at Sun-N-Fun, but our conversation then was short. I emailed her for a quote on some repair parts, and signed it Stephanie. Her reply was nice, but the attached invoice had the old name in the billing and shipping fields. sigh I bought the parts, and asked politely if she could change the name in their database. Within five minutes I had a reply. She was mortified that she hadn't seen that. "Darn it, I'm sorry about that. I didn't even notice and that was insensitive of me. I'll make the change right NOW! Change is made!" Wow. I told her how much I appreciated that, and her reply was simply a heart emoji. It added another smile to my day.
I was pretty well-known at the Ace and TrueValue hardware stores in my small town, but the new Tractor Supply opened after I started transitioning. I've been avoiding them all for months, going to the big box stores in other towns where nobody knows me. Well, yesterday I needed some hardware, and it was ridiculous to drive an hour round-trip for one thing. I figured it was safe to try Tractor Supply, since it's not likely I'd be recognized. And of course they didn't have what I needed. Not much choice left. I drove to TrueValue just down the street, took a deep breath, and trooped in. As I walked in the door one of the ladies at the registers eyed me with a very unfriendly look. Uh ohhhhh... I smiled and strode by with a confident look as I wilted inside. I found what I needed, and, with another deep breath, headed for the checkout. And I watched the lady eye the guy two places ahead with a very unfriendly look. Then the guy in front of me, same thing. Oh, she hates everybody! About that time the other lady called me over to her register, and she was as sweet as the other one was sour. With a "have a great day," I was outta there. Whew! So there's another milestone. I just need to visit Ace and I'll be pretty much done with all the businesses I frequent here in town.
People are cool (except for Ms. Sourpuss at Truevalue)...
Stephanie
