[AnnieBL]

Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful replies. I do feel that I have made some right decisions in my life, but mostly at the eleventh hour, and some have passed me by. I wish that I had got to the present point in my journey much sooner - I am now 73, and my wife a little older, and while we both feel much younger in spirit, and according to the nurse practitioner with whom we had a session together ten days ago, our physical condition is more typical of people ten years younger, there are increasing physical reminders that we are not spring chickens. For my part I cannot imagine that my age is helpful to NBE, except that as far as the world in general is concerned, gynecomastia is wholly unremarkable in middle aged and older men. I have long tended to dress so as to attempt to hide the shape of my body but have found just recently that my little titties are becoming more noticeable. In my present PM induced (or maybe corrected) state of mind I'm not certain that I care any more. The NP cannot but be aware of my breast development since she routinely rather thoroughly sounds out my heart and lung function with her stethoscope: I'm almost sorry that she hasn't commented.

C vous plait and Holmes12, I do agree that feeling like a woman at least in some small degree is, possibly merely through circumstance, more important to me than presenting as female, and is certainly more practical to accommodate within relationships that are exceedingly important to me.

I find amazing the helpfulness, kindness and wisdom of so many people here, and the happiness sometimes radiating from posts of people who know that they are finding the right path for themselves through the gender minefield despite the social and physical difficulties.