In other news:
More HNT and Tarpon SpringsAfter another three hour HNT session last Friday, I went back to Hellas for another wonderful gyro. This time I finally had a chance to say hello to the wonderful waiter who had been serving me every week before I took 12 weeks off for FFS. He was all smiley when I said hello, and I chatted completely unselfconsciously about my European vacation, leaving out the reason I was there, of course. It was just another affirming moment, followed by another one as I once again stood in line for the busy ladies room and chatted with the other women in line. Squeee.
Visiting With My Lovely CousinsThat evening we went to a little dinner party at my cousin's house. K, her visiting twin sister P, and their husbands were so awesomely accepting and loving, and welcomed Cassie and me as family, with only two accidental misgenderings. K and P had stayed with my family for a few weeks in the summer back when I was about 10 years old, and I remember how devastated I'd been, when after splashing around in our little pool, they would go off with my sister to do girl things, while I had to search out a friend so I could do the boy things I was allowed to do. But now I can visit and enjoy their company as women, and it feels so right.
P is an accomplished guitar player, and I took along my Jamstik and played along. I haven't jammed like that in so long, and I had a wonderful time, even if everyone else eventually got bored with us and wandered away or took a nap.
The GrasshoppersThe next morning I blasted home to go to a little fly-in at my neighbor's house. That wouldn't have been a big deal, but in this case my neighbor had gone out of her way to invite me, since she had invited the "Grasshoppers" to lunch at her place. The Grasshoppers are a club of women pilots here in Florida. My neighbor, B, thought I would enjoy the lunch and would like to join the club. Note that this neighbor is the wife of the guy who had given me such a hard time over pronouns. I was blown away that she would go to the trouble of inviting me multiple times to join the club, and there was no way I could refuse. The tricky thing? Some of the members, including one of the high muckamucks, "J," knew me in the before-times. I had no idea how I'd be received, but I went anyway.
I sat nervously at the table as J came in. She chatted with some of the other ladies, and finally looked up and saw me. With a big smile asked me how I was doing. We chatted with absolutely no awkwardness, and it got to the point where I started to wonder if she even remembered "him."
Then things took an interesting turn. Most of the women are good at piloting, but not so much at technology. They still print and snail-mail monthly newsletters. I was sitting next to J when B walked up and started talking with J about getting a Facebook page going for the group. Then she pointed at me and told J, "You know, Steph could probably put together a website for the group. She did the one for our club." J lit up and was thrilled when I said I'd be happy to build one. We talked about layouts and domain names, and before the meeting was over I'd bought a domain for the group. J made me a full member of the Grasshoppers and waived my membership fee.
We went around the circle and introduced ourselves, and I told them that I lived just down the street, was one of thee newest members, and had agreed to build a website for the group. I got a round of applause and many welcomes from all the other ladies. Good food, more good conversation with the ladies, some pictures, and the meeting broke up. I didn't walk home. I flew. And I didn't even have an airplane. Squeee.
YogaI realized that I had time to go to a yoga class. I had kept running into a few ladies at previous classes who had started waving and smiling when I walked into classes, and we had chatted a little afterward. In my quest to find more ciswomen to hang around with, I had hoped that maybe I could invite a few of them out for a snack or a coke after the class. And sure enough, they were there, and welcomed me in as always. After class we talked a little, but before I had a chance to make any invitations, they told me they had to get home to feed their dogs, and they headed out the door. Darn.
An Evening With My Special One, and Another MilestoneBut yay! That meant I could leave earlier to get back to my sweetie. She had spent the day at the salon getting her beautiful hair coloring redone - dark with shades of blue and purple. So she was heading west as I was heading east, and we met up for dinner. I was still wearing my yoga togs, but didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable going to a casual restaurant, and nobody looked twice. Squeee.
After dinner we went to my love's house, where we changed clothes and went downtown for their yearly "GeorgeFest" celebration (George Washington). And I passed another milestone. I had decided long ago that with my shoulders, there was no way I'd ever be able to wear anything with spaghetti straps. After 20 months of HRT, and 17 months of living full-time, I went to GeorgeFest wearing shorts, sandals, and a cami top. Not only did I think I looked cute, but it was soo cool compared with even a T-shirt. I loved it, and we wandered around and ate a funnel cake (yes, we're bad girls) with no drama from anyone. Just a few more women enjoying the evening. Squeee.
A British and Scottish BreakfastNext morning we went to breakfast at a UK-themed restaurant. While we waited for our food, we spent a little time texting with @Kendra, and ordered an Edible Arrangement in a "Hello Kitty" pot with a balloon that said, "It's a Girl!" to have delivered to @Jessica_Rose. The food was wonderful, and the proprietor stopped by many times to ask, "Are you lydies enjoying your meal?" Squeee.
Wandering Mount DoraFrom there we wandered around the neat little town. It's the same place we'd walked around after I'd gotten my hair styled for the first time, when I had gotten one of my first tastes of being completely open, comfortable, and at ease with my new presentation. Now we were shopping in little boutiques and chatting with the ladies working there, just part of life as it had become. We ended up in a cute little coffee and pastry shop, sitting touching in a love seat, sipping coffee and paging through wedding magazines while we thought about the future. It was quite an emotional moment.
A Relaxing EveningWe went home and just relaxed for the afternoon, cooking a simple dinner and sharing a couch while we watched some shows, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of each other's company.
Marketing FleasNext day I did something I'd never done before. Well, sorta. It was something I used to do often in the before-times, but hadn't as "me." There is a huge flea market near my home town which is only open on Mondays. I used to go there often to buy the week's fruits and vegetables, but social anxiety had kept me away for the last two years. It was time.
The Spanish gentleman who sold me some vegetables told me, "Four dollars, señorita." I was called ma'am and miss the rest of the morning. And I texted my bestie with this observation: "I just got smacked with a realization. All of the dresses or hats or tops or purses I used to glance at longingly, then look away before anyone noticed, are mine for the asking now. It's been so long since I was here, and things have changed so profoundly." Squeee
Being TrivialMy team took first place! As always, I was just another member of the team, but this time we missed only one question, and not only earned a $40 gift card, but got bragging rights, and won a spot in the "Trivia Super Bowl" coming up in a few weeks.
Grasshoppers WebsiteVersion 1.0 is finished and published. If you'd like to take a look, it's here:
http://grasshoppersflyers.org. J is overwhelming happy with it and me. I think I made a bit of a splash among the other ladies.
Bike RideToday I had arranged to have the owner of the plane project I'm working on come by and see the progress, and go for a bicycle ride. There's a "Rails to Trails" bike trail not far from home, so we got on the trail, pedaled about 7 miles, had lunch, and pedaled back. He had known me in the before-times, but is totally cool with it all, and we had a nice ride on a beautiful day, and good conversations.
I changed clothes and drove over to my doc's office to get a nurse to stab me with my E injection. Everyone called me "Miss Stephanie." Stopped in for a pizza and got the same friendly smile from Doctor Crystal who fills my Vitamin P presecription. She'd known me from the before-times, too, but has always been totally cool.
Took my dog for walks, worked a little on the plane, videochatted with my #1, and sat down to write this here story.
And that's all I got to say about that!
Stephanie
