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