Previously I had only come out to a few close friends and immediate family. I was holding off on more until I got on HRT and figured out how that worked for me. My staying closeted was annoying my wife - she felt I needed to be me, not the male persona I had created. But for my own sake I needed to wait. Plus I admit I was scared.
Now, I've been on HRT for a couple of weeks and it's going well. So I had no reason other than fear to hold me back, especially since she was stopping by the house this afternoon. When she got here we chatted for a bit then I sat her down for the "big conversation". Started telling her that I had something going on in my head for a long time, and by trying to ignore it I was causing a lot of problems in my life. That I finally admitted and started dealing with the problem and things were going better. I was saying a lot of things but not really getting to the point until she said "(Male name), just say it."
"I'm transexual."
"Oh." Pause. "And by dealing with this you're getting better and are happier?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Turns out she didn't completely know what "dealing with this" meant. But as I explained transition, HRT, the SOC, SRS, as much as I could, she didn't flinch. Took everything in stride. The only problem came up when I told her my name. That's when she started crying, remembering me as a baby, giving me my male name. I told her that I was still *me* inside. "It's like I'm converting to a new religion, only different." Which got her to laugh and she said "That's the part of you that was dying inside, wasn't it?"
And now I'm sitting here crying my eyes out from happiness thinking about it.
Val
