Hello everyone, I'm 60 years of age and have been living as ME for twenty two years now. I was married which was a disaster and I have two grown up children which is just plain wonderful. My only regret is that I didn't have the right body to be their birth mother (sigh). You see I knew I always wanted to have children and back when I was a teenager I used to daydream about being pregnant. Amazingly I didn't manage to connect the dots and it wasn't until I was 38 that one day I looked in the mirror and suddenly knew why I'd been feeling so out of place and confused for so many years (another sigh).
Back when I was still struggling to force myself into a male role I worked in the metal and motor trades, mostly working on trucks and buses. I even had a beard and smoked a pipe that's how hard I was trying. Looking back on it I thought that one day somehow I'd stop feeling like I'd been given the wrong script for the play and everything would be fine.
The reason why I choose the forum name 'Lady Smith' is that I still have an interest in metalwork and tinkering about and repairing things though it's mostly old bicycles these days. I did used to ride motorcycles and I belonged to a womens' touring group for a while, but I'm not medically able to ride a motorcycle anymore which is a pity.
When I was making my transition I made the big mistake of selling off all my tools because I thought that my spannering and metalworking days were over along with any pretense that I was a male. I might not be trying to be macho by working on trucks anymore, but my interest in tinkering about with machinery and making things has stayed with me and I still get a kick out of doing that.
I'm retired now, but around year four of being ME I went back to school and studied to become a social worker. For a while I worked in disability employment, but shifted over to working for the adult mental health service where I stayed until I retired. I loved my job with the mental health service and I guess it will come as no surprise when I tell you I was never worried about the clients/patients I worked with, it was always 'normal' people who were the most dangerous ones.
So that's me I guess ;D
Lady Smith
Welcome to Susan's family.
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Je suis un être humain,Popcorn? (https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Foi62.tinypic.com%2F33a6ouf.jpg&hash=70038a414397cf8547aa00ee9064953fc318e096)
Hugs
Hi Lady Smith :icon_wave:
Welcome to Susan's :) Glad to have you here, join on in the fun
Hugs
V M
Hi Lady Smith! Welcome to the forum from across the ditch here in Australia!
Thank you for the welcome, it's good to be here :) I found Susan's Place almost by accident today while doing a Google search for HRT and I'm really glad that I did.
Hi Lady Smith welcome to Susan's
Hi Lady Smith, welcome to Susan's Place! I'm from Boston. What sort of metalwork do you tinker in? I worked in a stainless steel foundry for awhile, and I play with solder pots and a drag solder machine and the like at work now. Molten metal is a seductive mistress. See you around the site!
Hugs, Devlyn
Hi Devlyn, thanks for the welcome. Metal casting is something that I've always wanted to try, only I suppose I've been a bit nervous about giving it a go. These days most of what I do is with bicycles and human powered vehicles so it's mostly fabrication and some sheet metalwork. While I can arc weld I much prefer brazing with a torch when it comes to joining metal together. When I retired my big present to myself was a lathe, - an English Myford, - which is something I'd always wanted.
Look what you can do with old drink cans: http://www.anthillart.com/ I really want to do this!
Hugs, Devlyn
Wow that's amazing Devlyn. Is there any problem with the moisture content in the soil causing steam blow backs or anything?
I'll bet there is! We had an induction furnace fail one day, the metal got to the cooling water and the steam explosions were throwing 3100º F steel everywhere.
Hey!
Welcome to Susan's
Hi Lady Smith :icon_wave: Welcome to Susan's, nice to have you join us and share your thoughts. I am a very similar age, started HRT around 50'ish but still have not transitioned or broken the family.. ???
This year maybe... I'm across the "ditch" in Aussie, Western Sydney to be a little more accurate, but love NZ 8)
Hope to see you around a bit
L Katy :-*