Today has been a good day.
As far as holidays go, today is generally the one made the biggest deal of in my country: Australia day, the day that marks when our nation gained independance from Great Britain. In years gone past, while presenting as male still, this day has generally consisted of me drinking an awful lot of alcohol (and probably consuming a few other substances of which I'm glad to have now been free from for quite a while) with a few other friends to the point where we couldn't even see the fireworks that had been organised for the occasion, me basically using the occasion as an excuse to do whatever I could to myself to numb myself from whatevr pain I was feeling.
Today was different.
I decided that celebrating in the "traditional" style would be an obviously bad idea, and thanks to an unrelated phone call from an old friend who I know from before transition, ended up arranging to spend the day with him, his girlfriend, his parents and sister, and a few of thier friends. The afternoon consisted of a barbeque, a relatively boring but still somewhat compelling (seeing as we beat the English
) cricket match, a few glasses of wine, and what I would consider to be some of the most compelling and interesting conversation I've had in a very long time.
Not once did the issue of my gender identity, or why I was wearing womens clothing, or "am I planning on getting surgery?", or anything like that was even mentioned. For the first time since I can remember, I was unconditionally treated as if I was a woman, and although it was obvious that most people present remember me from when I was presenting as male, that was not an issue at all (despite a few lapses in pronouns, which were quickly corrected by someone who
wasn't me, for a change
).
I wish I could feel as good about myself as I do now for the rest of my life. Small things bring the greatest pleasure, do they not?
