Ok, so before I go any further with any of this I want to throw this out there: I'm not trying to be stereotypical about male roles.

I live in a house full of women and my dad's kinda the only guy I have to learn from. Since I can remember he's always been the type of guy who works with his hands. He does the housework himself, never hires anyone to do it for him, and likes it cause it keeps him busy and makes him happy. The first time I ever got to do anything with him, I painted one of the rooms in our house. It was FUN, so I finally got to see why things like that made him happy.

Today I offered to help him mow the lawn...I got to ride the lawn mower and that was a blast, and I even offered to learn to use the weed wacker. Even though it was strenuous, I sweat a lot, and my muscles were a little weak afterward....it was AWESOME. I guess I'm my father's son, because I can't wait til next week to do it all over again. I've always been the type of guy who loves to sweat, so work like that made me incredibly happy (not just cause of the sweating lol).

I guess the best part about all of this is that today I finally got something I'd wanted when I was much younger when I asked my dad: Daddy, can I mow the lawn?

I learned how it would have been, doing chores side by side with my dad, had I been born Nathaniel a long time ago

Feels good does it not?  I remember when I was young (5/6 years old) and my father had a restauraunt, I used to wake up at 4 in the morning just to go to work with him.  By about noon, I ended up putting two chairs next to eachother and sleeping stretched out between them.

Feels awesome  He said no to me back then, but to have him say yes after all these years is great.

That's a great story about you and your dad too

Meh. I don't know. It really depends. See, it's hard for me to say, being transmale, but even before I had a gender identity I was full on with my hands. I was born an artist, practically, drawing before I knew how to speak or write. My life style has always been about doing my own work because we could never afford (nor really need the luxury of) a maid. I never was the ultimate house worker. I prefer things outdoors like landscaping and moving potted plants. I really enjoyed helping Habitat for Humanity build houses.

My dad introduced me to construction. I'm really enjoying it so far. After we finish to top floor and the other guys finish the roof (they don't want me on the roof, especially since I'm on meds), then we'll finish the plumbing, add cabinets and toilets and stuff... All of that work is delicate and has to look good, so I'm not as excited about it. I really want to help lay floors and paint the walls... also maybe add outer material on the sides of the house. They also still have a garage to build that I want to help with. I think the most fun will be putting the front yard together. Right now it's got two huge trenches in it for the plumbing, I think.

I haven't used the weed whacker. Ours is heavy and quite old, so it can be problematic. I might also be too short to use it.

I also enjoy work, but I wouldn't say that's a "guy" thing. I've always really enjoyed being a mess and doing something until I was tired. But I don't think I always had a gender identity. Little kids typically don't.