Today was one of our first decent days. (We get a late spring here.) I have a couple of old rosebushes in the lawn. In fact, the grass grows up through the rose stalks and usually looks pretty messy. In the past I have reached in and pulled up the grass in jerky motions, pausing now and then to pull thorns out of my gloves, and then rushing off to do the next bush.
Today, I carefully loosened the earth around the bushes and slowly worked as much of the grass roots out of the soil as I could. I spent a happy two hours on the two bushes, ending by circling them with stones and covering the bare ground with mulch. I got surprisingly few thorns.
So, is this new, slow, patient way of working due to the hormones or because I'm finally coming to be at peace with myself and the world? Or both?
(When I came back inside I had a voice mail from a close male friend. We had done a lot of guy things together. His message: "Hey Kate, this is Bruce. Bring the chainsaw when you come to lunch." At lunch he said the message was a breakthrough in his feelings about my transition and told me I really haven't changed that much – in other words, we can still do things together even if I am a gal. Quite a day.)
- Happily Kate
