Well, another new signer-upper here... I've been a long time lurker and have plundered the opinions and resources of this forum for a while, so I thought it was time to say hello.
Mine is a fairly typical story - I identified from a very early age as female, went through the humiliation of my mum discovering me trying on her clothes aged 8, found out aged 11 again when she found a pile of her stuff under my bed (which I blamed on a friend of course), buried it all for a while, cross-dressed in secret (and occasionally in encounters) for two decades and tried to live life as society seemed to expect me to.
I got married in my 30s, made a career in an exciting field traveling all over the world most of the time, went through divorce and couldn't put my finger on why I seemed to be searching constantly for something. I had nearly come to sourcing hormones so many times, but had repeatedly shoved it all to the back of my mind. I have been fortunate in that I have a lot of good memories of my male-acted life, but there has been an increasing and subverted, underlying depression that I was barely aware of until my ex-wife pointed it out last year.
And then suddenly at the start of the year everything crystalised. I was free, single (ish - but my then girlfriend and I had alternative elements to our relationship anyway), had left my senior job to form my own company, and finally decided to take action.
So here I am. A 43-year-old woman who will soon be fully liberated. I have my final therapy on 12 August and my 'scrip consult on 14 Aug, after which - bloods being well - I will be starting HRT. So, so excited - with an element of nervousness. My ex-gf had me sussed immediately after we called off our relationship and she is fully supportive, and I have a couple of other newish friends who know - but my family know nothing yet. I have a great, close relationship with them but don't know if it will survive this, but it's a price I have been preparing myself for.
I just can't wait to start this path, and however hard it proves it will be better than living the lie. I just wish I'd done it 20 years ago.
Look forward to meeting you all on the forums
Oh, and someone else here I think has already has my actual name (including surname!)
