Sometimes I get into a contemplative mood ("contemplating life" as my father would say) and try to look at things from a distance. So feel free to ignore this philosophical babble. Just me thinking out loud.
It seems to me that the old saying "is the glass half empty or half full?" can certainly be applied to us in the transgender community.
Speaking for myself, I am by nature mostly a pessimist. Which has the advantage that things usually turn out better than I had anticipated, but I generally find the glass to be half empty. When I go back and look at my life so far I could (and regularly do) make a long list of why the glass is half empty. Things like "Why didn't I trust my mother and tell her what was wrong much younger? She knew SOMETHING was wrong" or "I didn't have any close female relatives or trusted friends to help me during my transition" (my mother died before I came out; no brothers or sisters). And the classic "Why did being born in the wrong body have to happen to ME?" Etc., etc., etc.
But occasionally I can stand back and see the "glass half full" perspective. Things that I have been lucky with and turned out well. I didn't lose any family or friends during my transition; not even the ones I had expected to lose. My entire transition, HRT and SRS were paid for by health insurance. I have a good, steady job (in spite of everything). I have zero problems at the office. Things like that.
And here is a "bonus" I would have preferred to do without: there aren't that many people who have a more or less informed perspective from "both sides of the fence", so to say. What I am trying to say is that 99% (or whatever) of the people are either male or female, accept that entirely as being the most natural thing in the world and never give it a second thought.
OK, end of philosophical rant.
