Sorry to bore again with my seemingly never ending retirement.
I was given a farewell retirement function and I was asked how large or small I wanted it. I opted for a lunchtime open-house. My work place supplied food, my colleagues contributed to a lovely gift and of course there were speeches.
I was asked before hand by the person organising the event, a close and dear friend and who runs one of my ex-labs, if I was OK with pictures of Peter being shown during the presentations. My hesitation must have been obvious and she said, everyone knows Peter and Cindy, they appreciate your work and teachings as Cindy and as Peter, I of course said yes.
I wasn't looking forward to this.
My original Head of Dept, now retired for many years came along and gave a lovely short talk and then my mentor and supervisor for many years, also well retired, gave a talk and focused on my scientific achievements. People were a little taken aback by some and I had that sort of inner glow smile of satisfaction.
There were then talks from past students and I was suitably astonished by where some have ended up. My technical interest in the analysis of particles had been taken up in so many different ways and past students are everywhere from climatology to pharmaceuticals to the wine industry to nanotechnology (a colleague and I had a crazy way to treat cancer using nanotechnology and radio waves, he has taken it to an exciting level!). I was also taken that a colleague has developed a test for viral infection in oysters that farmers can have on site with a simple to use machine and test. The half a room sized monster machines that I started on are now briefcase size.
I gave a short talk in thanks (using slides in case my 'voice' went) and the title was 'Don't Plan' based on my life experience that when ever I didn't plan something I had a wonderful time, and when I did plan an event it went down the gurgler.
I mentioned a time on a Friday afternoon when in an unplanned moment I came out as transgender and that I was Cindy. I made the comment that being accepted was the most indescribable feeling of joy. There was a collective sigh and smile and love feeling.
After the talks I was catching up with old friends and the comments was made that: 'We wish you had told us'. There was a heap of gossip about why Peter was appearing in more and more feminine clothing, nail polish and strange hair do's. My sanity was being questioned and when I came out as TG there was a collective sigh of 'Oh is that all'. So my idea of subtly breaking in the fact that I was TG didn't quite work
So I had a nice time. I appreciated the honour that my colleagues gave me and of course, as ever, I found that the fear of the moment is greater than the moment.
Afterwards, my now ex-research group said, 'you are still coming to the meetings every Thursday'. It wasn't a question and yes I am.
