Well, a final update.
The process is now pretty much complete; over the past several days I have come out to my sister, my ex, my son, a bunch of old friends back home, and my closest friends here locally. To my amazement, there hasn't been one negative response!
Reactions have ranged from "You've got my support and good wishes and I'm glad you found the courage to live as you want and need to" to "Holy ->-bleeped-<-...wow...well, good for you. That really took balls to do, so to speak. You look pretty good, actually."
I guess I've done a pretty good job over the years of picking friends!
Of course, the one I was most worried about was my son. His response is the one that I'll cherish forever: "Hey, you'll always be my dad. If you needed to dress like a duck and eat nothing but bread, if you were happy, I'd be happy."
I know this is all very early; everyone is responding to the idea in the abstract, and things can change as reality sets in. Still, I'm on cloud nine, and I imagine I'll be there for a while!
Again, thanks to all of you for your kind words and wishes. And Kate, I'll talk to my sister and see if she has room for another one of us...
