Hi Kate,  Nope No laughing.... We have all been there and it's always a learning experence.  I kept one motorcycle jacket, but the big black tourmaster (loved that jacket... One was very guy and two no longer fit across the shoulders.  I can recommend "New Enough" for on line motorcycle apparel.

BTW Janet... GREAT avatar.  Looking Good Girl!!!!

Beni

Thanks Beni.  I look at the screen and saw myself and that was when I just started smiling because I loved my hair.  And CLICK new avatar.

Janet

So, am I to understand correctly that I am already in my RLE?

I work part time as Valerie,
I go to College as Valerie.
I volunteer on an ambulance as Valerie.
I've changed my name to Valerie.
Everybody knows me as Valerie.

So, according to that I am in RLE.

Just about all of my documents are changed (I'm just waiting for a couple documents to go through that are taking forever).

I guess I expected there to be more to it.

Hi Valerie,
Sounds to me like you've started, but I'm new to this, too, so what do I know? 

I'm starting my seventh day this morning.  My demarcation point was when I decided to wear women's clothes all the time and to correct anyone who uses my male name.  Perhaps what constitutes the start date is different for each of us, since the change is really an internal shift with various external markers.

I got an email this morning from a young woman I am very fond of.  She mentioned (as have others) how this is such a big change.  I realize it is a big change, but somehow, on some level, it really isn't a change for me.  It is more like growth.  And growth is a gradual transformation.  When does a seedling become a plant?

Cheers,
Kate

Quote from: Valerie Elizabeth on April 26, 2009, 10:48:05 PM
So, am I to understand correctly that I am already in my RLE?

I work part time as Valerie,
I go to College as Valerie.
I volunteer on an ambulance as Valerie.
I've changed my name to Valerie.
Everybody knows me as Valerie.

So, according to that I am in RLE.

Just about all of my documents are changed (I'm just waiting for a couple documents to go through that are taking forever).

I guess I expected there to be more to it.

Yes, Val, by definition of the HBSOC/WPATH code, by working/living/going to school in your chosen gender and changing your legal name to a feminized name constitutes the start of your RLE.

And actually I prefer to use the term Real Life Experience rather than RLT.  To me, and others, it isn't really a "test" as in trying to prove you are "Trans enough".  It is the gaining the experience necessary to continue to live your life in the way you have chosen.  And to have made the statement that "From this point on, I chose to live my life as I truly am!"

Congratulations!

Kate:
You too sound like you have made the internal decision to live as you truly are.  Congratulations!

The formal definition will depend on such things as when you have legally changed your name or started working/living full-time.  Though, truly as you said, it is an internal change as well.

It is a growth issue.  And you will grow quite a bit.  When you feel the sun on your face, I would think that you are no longer a seedling...

You'll know.

-Sandy

Quote from: Sandy on April 27, 2009, 09:35:12 AMAnd actually I prefer to use the term Real Life Experience rather than RLT.  To me, and others, it isn't really a "test" as in trying to prove you are "Trans enough".

I know that's the politically correct version nowadays, and I've always gone along with it too. But thinking it over-- actually it is a test. It's a test of whether this whole project is going to work. To find out whether it's feasible to go ahead with it permanently. Like the technological equivalent known as a "beta test," a trial run. Implicit in this is the possibility that it might not turn out to be feasible and one can back out before permanently committing oneself.

rle = ft (not sometimes, not every rainy wednesday, but ft)