Poise? Well that does not come easily. Some days when an important transition-related event occurs it takes everything I have to appear calm and confident on the outside, because inside I want to curl into a quivering ball! I have a feeling Monday and Tuesday will be extremely difficult. The support and encouragement I get here is a tremendous help.
I visited our newspaper publisher today. My legal notice for the name change will run in the paper Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Luckily the notice does not include my address, and I live in an area with a population over 500,000. If anyone at work mentions the notice I'll just say 'Wow, someone else in this town has my name!' If all goes well, I will officially be Jessica Rose on Monday. I will not be going to work that day, but I may well have trouble driving home from the courthouse.
Tuesday I should be able to go to the DMV for my driver's license. Not only will my license have my new name, but it will also have my new gender marker. I will work from home that day so I can be dressed appropriately when I go to the DMV after work (around 2:30pm). That will be another huge day.
The HR folks at my company want to be here when I make the announcement, and most of them are in another state so they need to make travel plans. This pushes my coming out day to 16 Feb (I want to do it on a Friday). I can tell everyone here at Susan's as soon as it is official, but it means I will officially be a woman named Jessica Rose for 12 days before I can tell anyone at work. Arghhhh!!!