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Started by Sonia Keys, December 31, 2008, 08:08:12 AM
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QuoteHello friends, each of you is more dear to me than you know. I wish I could send direct emails like I have the last two years, but I've been so slow on the computer lately that I know I would never finish that project this year.2008 has been a dark year for me. I've made little progress at resolving my legal problems, and consequently I've spent time in jail, time under house arrest, and I've lost my right to have a bank account, a job, health care, a driver's license, or a passport. I'm wanted in two states. I haven't checked, but in one of those states, I suspect my photo is on a "ten most wanted" poster. I've been essentially homeless for all of 2008. No, I haven't been living on the street or in shelters, but have been totally dependent on friends and family for whatever roof I've had over my head.I learned early this year that I have cancer. I was near to dropping dead in my tracks by the time it was finally diagnosed, the diagnoses being delayed by six months or so by my legal problems. Obviously, I survived that close call. I got radiation treatments that treated the cancer very well and gave me a new lease on life. Only a lease though; I should have started chemotherapy by now, but that is delayed for the moment as I'm focusing on resolving my legal problems.Most of you know me as a transsexual. (Apologies to those of you not exactly in the transgender community. This paragraph may sound a little strange to you.) 2008 was my first full calendar year to live as a woman, and I'm happy to report that being a woman has continued to be wonderful for me. Due to both legal and health problems, I haven't been able to make much progress in "physical" transition, but if you've got to pause somewhere, "full time" is a great place to pause. My "mood" status on one of my social networking sites currently says "Peaceful" and that really sums up how I feel about my current place in my transition. Yes, there is much, much more I would like to do. It can wait. I'm not suffering terribly from "birth defects."One happy diversion I found this year was photography. After being away from Sisters of Boston for months, I was badly missing weekly photos of myself from Ashley's omnipresent camera. I fussed and delayed for months more before finally buying a pocket digital camera, in July of this year. I took a few of the vanity photos of myself I had been missing, then realized what an amazing instrument I had for creating art. A pocket digital camera, vintage 2008, is incredible for its capabilities. I began taking *lots* of photos, learning creative photography by just doing it, and also learning from studying the ocean of spectacular examples on Flickr, and before long, from meeting a few of Boston's most enthusiastic amateur photographers, watching them work, and listening to them talk about what they do.I'll end with an invitation to everyone to write to me, just to say hello. But I have to also end with an apology to so, so many of you for not writing to you this year. I've failed to return emails to a vast number of my friends this year. My only explanation is that I've been just overwhelmed by my problems, my situation, and haven't had the mental energy to...to just return friendship, awful as that sounds. I do love you, each and every one of you.Best wishes, love, and peace to all in 2009,Sonia
Quote from: Sonia Keys on December 31, 2008, 08:08:12 AM2008 has been a dark year for me. I've made little progress at resolving my legal problems, and consequently I've spent time in jail, time under house arrest, and I've lost my right to have a bank account, a job, health care, a driver's license, or a passport. I'm wanted in two states. I haven't checked, but in one of those states, I suspect my photo is on a "ten most wanted" poster.
