Hi:  My name is Caitlyn I am a new visitor to your site, my Bio. Is as follows:
Age:  very old
Gender: female, SRS by Dr. Brassard
Started transitioning in the year 2000
Family: Married over forty years, I have three fantastic but disapproving married children, who with their fantastic spouses have provided several of the world greatest grandchildren.

I will be most likely lurking for a short while until I understand the dynamics of this site a little better.

I am a retired Engineer that enjoys traveling, and driving and working on old cars, I currently have two restored sports cars over thirty years old and two equally old MG's that I am working on.  One of them is under restoration and the other still in the planning stages but expected to get a hot six cylinder engine, and improved running gear.

Perhaps the car thing is inconsistent with my gender change, but one of the great things about being old is you learn that you can do what you want to do, you do not need permission.  I find great pleasure in simply being my self!  The big change is I hate getting dirty now and find it much better to wear gloves when getting greasy; in fact I have become a sissy and I even enjoy that. 

The changes in my self have been fun and interesting to watch and experience, I think the biggest and most noteworthy were those that came with the Hormne Replacement Therapy (HRT) program.  The emotional changes were some of the most interesting; for example, I cried more in the first six months of HRT than I had cried in the previous sixty years of my life.

Finally after over sixty years of trying to live the life that as expected of me, I am almost the person that I want to be, of course I would rather be: more passable, beautiful, smarter, younger, healthier, and the list goes on; but I now find contentment in my life for the first time, that thing that always seemed to be missing in my life is now is in place.  It no longer matters if I am wearing a dress, or in my jeans working in the barn, I know who I am now, and that has given me the peace I was not able to find before.

Hello Caitlyn.

Welcome to Susan's.  I'm sure that you will find Susan's to be a very friendly place to hang out.  Lurk all you want but the fun is in participating.  Your experiences with post operative life will be most welcome here and I'm sure that many of the other members will benefit from any advice you can provide.

Just don't be shy and when you feel ready jump in and enjoy the site.

Chat later.

Steph

Welcome, Caitlyn, to Susan's!

I'm an engineer too, not yet retired and still very early in transition.  If I even get much further is questionable, but I now know who I am.  My hobby (furniture  design and woodworking) is not really considered appropriately feminine but, screw 'em if they can't take a joke.  I've gotten alot less interested in what other people think in the past few months.

Due to access limitations (web access only at work) I lurked for almost 6 months before I joined and I've found Susan's to be the best place on the web for advice, support and even humor about the sometimes painful subject that unites us here.  I hope you find it as good or even better than I have.

I'll be looking forward to reading more of your posts and benefitting from your experiences and am happy to, again, say

WELCOME!
helen

Thanks for the welcome!

Helen I would not recommend that you even consider giving up any thing you enjoy doing.  One thing we all need to remember is that genetic females also can do woodwork, do mechanical work. play war games. and the list goes on. 

The Rule according to Caitlyn is Always be your self, that is what this process we are going through is all about, don't sell your self short.

Caitlyn,

Welcome to Susan's. I'm still a newcomer here, but it's been a welcome place for me to come and feel at home. I, too, am an engineer, not yet retired, but looking forward to the day as soon as I can. I also enjoy woodworking and furniture making and wouldn't consider giving it up. This is just one more facet of my life. I'm thankful that there are at least some parts of my life that can be entirely acceptable to society, whatever my gender. I think we should be able to enjoy the parts of our selected gender without feeling pressured to take on the stereotypes that go along with it.

Enjoy your hobbies and be yourself.

Steph

Hello Caitlyn,

I feel encouraged at knowing your transition came in the later years because it is what I am looking at also.

If Caitlyn can do it, so can Katie..

It really is a life long journey yet I am so happy to have come to the point that I am today.