[Marina Kits]

I came away from my Chi Chapter outing with the startling realization that I am a transgender, a trans, not a male, but not a female either. Did I know that before? Honestly, no I didn't. I thought of myself as two different people one male and the other female. But, now I see myself as one person who is transgender, 100% of the time. In a way it's therapeutic to latch onto that rock as something solid in a world that has been anything but solid over the past year.
Clara

This quote, from another thread, is articulated in a way that makes more sense to me. I have been in those shoes. It was a year ago last February, shortly before I found this forum and began my journey. Actually maybe a little before that but the most memorable event for me was telling my wife, out load, that I was transgender. She knew I was something like that but I had never used that word to describe myself. It was like I had been mute my whole life and those were the first words I'd ever spoken. Broken, scratchy and shakily, I muttered, "I'm transgendered". It was a milestone for me as well as for her. I really am part of that much misunderstood, sometimes despised and occasionally victimized group of social outcasts. I am Transgendered. Strange as that event was, it was a turning point for me because I had finally stepped over the threshold and into a new world where I could begin dealing with and accepting myself for who I really am. Until that point, I had been stuck in a place of unhappiness, unable to change or accept my uniqueness. Now I am moving on, embracing a part of me that has endured way too much darkness and abuse. My outside was killing my inside. Now I am one with a little... maybe a lot, of give and take from both dimensions. By the time I went to my first transgendered meeting, it was absolutely no big deal at all although like a breath of fresh air. What would have been extremely uncomfortable was nothing at all. They are PEOPLE just like everyone else and worthy of love and respect ...just like me.