I've been lurking and reading the open forums for a while now and have finally decided to go ahead and register so I can get more involved.

So delurking and saying hi. I"m 46, MtF living somwhere in the wilds of the north texas area. I've pretty much known as long as I can recall that I was transgendered, but until somewhat recently never had a word for it. It was something I always kept buried in the background while I struggled to adapt and conform to what society expected of me as a man. I can't say I was very successful at it. I've never been married, nor dated that much for that matter. It never felt right or satisfying with my fantasies and dreams always being from the other side as it were. The only expressions I allowed myself really were to wear my hair long and play girl characters in video games, but for the most part I'd learned to basically accept and be mostly comfortable in the body and skin I had been born with.
A little more than a year ago I created a character in Second Life and started using that as an outlet and expression of the woman inside me. In there I'd met up with a transgender support group and found that I was far from alone in my feelings. That pretty much opened the floodgates as it were. I read, I researched, and opened myself to the possibilities. I found a therapitst locally who specializes in gender issues. In the course of time 'till now, I have slowly told all of my faimily and my closest friends and everyone has been accepting and supportive for which I do truly thank my lucky stars. I have started HRT just under a month ago now. So I am firmly on the path to where I feel I should be should go.
That's about it for me. I just wanted to a proper "Hi, I new" post before jumping into the fourms proper. I've read the "Must Reads" linked in others "Hi I'm new" posts even. I'm ready to leave safety of the shell
--Becka
(edited to fix the subject line)