This Labour Day weekend I'm going up to my aunt's cottage. Her husband, my uncle, and his family will be there... my dad's visiting family in Saskatchewan so he won't be there and my brother is MIA, so he won't be there.
My aunt knows I'm identifying as transgender - and probably my second cousins who have pretty much hated me since coming out as lesbian when I was 16. (My aunt is cool with it, she's just having some difficulty getting over the fact that her "little girl" is not her little girl anymore.)
Anyway... I'm just debating over how I should go through with discussing HRT with her. I am going to be starting very soon (I should be getting an appointment with my endo this month). I haven't talked to my dad about it yet but as I said, he's out of province and next time I see him will be his 50th birthday party ... not sure if I want to screw that weekend up for him :P
My roommate told me not to bother telling anyone, because he didn't and it worked out okay. But I think it would hurt my aunt more if I don't discuss it with her, especially since she begged me not to do anything without giving her a heads up. That's just how my mom'd side of the family works. Coming out as gay, I was able to let that slide and let them figure it out. Changing my whole physical and hormonal make-up, is something I'll have to tell them about. Just the way my family works.
I'm thinking I should go through a brief list of permanent and non-permanent changes, and a general timeline as to how soon changes will start happening. I guess I should also tell her that HRT and SRS are the current method of treating GID (she was an RN for almost 30 years so I guess that's the best way to explain it to her).
What are some questions family members have asked you guys when you told them? I think my aunt will have a fairly positive reaction, it's just her brother I worry about. He told me once that "life is a gift, once you're given this gift it's your decision what you do with it" (we were talking about my mother's death) but at the same time, he's got major anger issues and might go crazy. I'm really not sure how he'll respond to the topic.
Any advice others have to share as far as discussing this with close family?