Well it could be worse...my siblings have invented a new word and have decided that i'm currently their brister. My dad has been calling me HK (new initials), which is pretty cool, and my mum said that i looked incredibly like an aunt.
There's also been some fairly honest conversations about things...difficult at times but at least we've been talking about things and the family are starting to come to terms with things. I guess it's a slow process and i suppose i have to accept that it was a shock.
generally i'd say it's a win.
Coolness.
(my brother calls me his 'broster'. Combo of brother and sister.)
Hi Helena
It's good to hear that you are being accepted for who you are. I would assume that things will get even better as time goes by.
Take care and all the best for the future.
Kind regards
Sarah B
Grats. Hope things continue in the same vein for future holidays :)
Hi Helena
congrats, another step forward.
hugs
annette
Glad to hear that things have improved a little since we spoke on the phone at the start of the day.
I thought it might take a while to settle down. Well done for sticking with it and keeping things together.
That will undoubtedly stand you in good stead in years to come.
The real irony is, that after worrying that just being me would cause arguments and tears and conflict, it was my brother who did it. He had both me and my youngest sister in tears, was threatening to park a car in the lake, said some monsterously horrible things to my mum, basically telling her that after losing one son she was now losing the other. That was actually what set me off. All in all he was acting like a butt hurt boy wonder and i suddenly didn't feel so bad about the undercurrent of strain that being at my parents has caused.
Oh yeah, i also found out that i'm not the first member of the familly to transition.
Quote from: Helena on December 26, 2010, 05:11:31 AM
The real irony is, that after worrying that just being me would cause arguments and tears and conflict, it was my brother who did it. He had both me and my youngest sister in tears, was threatening to park a car in the lake, said some monsterously horrible things to my mum, basically telling her that after losing one son she was now losing the other. That was actually what set me off. All in all he was acting like a butt hurt boy wonder and i suddenly didn't feel so bad about the undercurrent of strain that being at my parents has caused.
Oh yeah, i also found out that i'm not the first member of the familly to transition.
How intriguing - me neither as I have probably told you although as my predecessor was back before the day of medical treatment it ended rather unhappily - inevitably I'm now itching to ask you for some non identifiable general details about your pioneer (PM or YIM if you don't want to post here). ;D
Think I mentioned, a while ago, that I had an uncle, on my father's side who transisioned.
I know there was a big scandal about it, being around 1950. He left the country and moved to Italy. But was never spoken of.
Don't know what he did there. Hence the male pronoun. One day, I'd love to find out. But searches in old news papers and even the professional data base, have come up with nothing.
Spacial, thats amazing ! He would be 1 of the first few people that ever transitioned. :)
Quote from: Angela Foureira Komninou on December 26, 2010, 06:45:12 AM
Spacial, thats amazing ! He would be 1 of the first few people that ever transitioned. :)
I think you will find that was more like Tiresias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias) ;D
Yeah I sorry I know I'm being a smart arse again - but I can't help it and I don't mean any harm... :laugh:
Then of course there was the Chevalier D'eon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d'Eon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_d'Eon)
... to say nothing of Lili Elbe, Michael Dillon, Dr James Barry, (google them if you don't know their stories) Roberta Cowell (who actually pre dates Christine Jorgensen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberta_Cowell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberta_Cowell) so even our history books have it wrong) and according to some legends even Queen Elizabeth The 1st. (Yes there seriously is some historical evidence to suggest that she may have actually been CAIS intersexed, but of course one could never prove it.)
My own ancestor would have been back in Victorian times. He was always referred to by my mother as "a sad unfortunate and confused individual." From what I can gather he was trans, attempted to live as a woman and ended up committing suicide.
And now I think I have derailed this thread enough - so I'm going to give myself a big smack and offer sincere apologies to my friend Helena - but hope that at least I provided some amusing enlightenment on some lesser known aspects of our trans history.
That's great news Helena. Have a wonderful Cristmas and happy new years hun.
Hugs
Beth
That's pretty cool! Not so much about your brother going off but other than that from what you say it seemed relatively smooth. Actually, a funny thing happened to me at my families Christmas party. It took place at my uncle's place (dad's side of the family). My dad actually has eleven brothers and sisters so it was a pretty large get together. Now I have one uncle who is mentally challenged and I don't think he'll really grasp the concept. He was telling a few of the girls how much he liked their hair and then went on to say, about me, "I really like his hair. He looks like a girl." At which point I replied, "That's the idea."
Ah family...
Quote from: Angela Foureira Komninou on December 26, 2010, 06:45:12 AM
Spacial, thats amazing ! He would be 1 of the first few people that ever transitioned. :)
I have to say that he is an inspiration for me. Though I do need to try to imagine that things worked out well for him in Italy.
He did have a lot to deal with.
He was the eldest son of a man who had distinguished himself in WW1. I spoke to a number of older military types in the 70s about my grandfather, though not saying he was. The sort of responses were, 'Och aye, fine fellow'. His reputation seemed to the the sort that these men wanted to be associated with.
Scottish and very presbteryan. Those who've been to Scotland will understand that. For those that haven't, think of an old, bad tempered dog, then take away the intelegence.
He was a Dr. He'd been an officer in the Royal Navy in WW2. These two together meant that, in UK society at least, he would have been assumed to be the model of example. For someone like that to get a drink driving conviction for example, would have been bad enough. There was another fellow who had been one of the code breakers in Blechley Park, who, around the same time, was caught with a male prostitute. He killed himself, rather than face the shame.
Anyway, as I said, he was never spoken of, other than that he existed. In the early 70s, his brother, my uncle, went to see him. That brother was an archetech who among his achievments was working on parts of the Forth Road Bridge and creating a design for a public toilet which was used through out the UK for a number of years.
Few details of what happened other than that he was apparently chased out of the house. Knowing that uncle, he probably tried to lecture him. He once tried to lecture me about smoking and all I could think of was that I needed a smoke!
I learnt about his history from my father's second wife. She took enormous joy in telling it, saying it was all over the front pages of the Sundays at the time. Though she just said he put on a dress and called himself by a female name. The consensus of opinion at the time, which she seemed to accept, was that, as his mother has died a year of so earlier, he had gone mad. I also understand his medical licience was suspended for a while, at least. That was suggested as the reason he went to Italy as he could never again practice in the UK
I took some heart from that. Even though my own transision failed and I didn't ever regains sufficient confidence to try again.
I've done numerous searches for him, in public libraries and enquiry. Since the advent of the net, I've also tried that way, but nothing.
On the one hand, I'd really like to know what became of him. On the other, if it turned out he went to Italy and tried to put it all behind him then that may be a bit disappointing.
If I ever do, I will post details here. But to be quite honest, I don't really know how to start.