Transgender Transition Highlights - Embracing the Girlie Side

It's been two weeks since my last post... I'm still here, but haven't been able to anything productive at all since my last post. Two weeks of my life wasted.

While trying to find something to motivate me, I started looking through my old photos and came across photos from the night that changed my life... October 31st, 2008.

As long as I can remember, I've been a girl... I've always felt, looked and dressed like a girl (in public, I was a tom-girl)... but the older I got, the more I began to dread looking at myself in the mirror. I hated seeing the increasingly hairy man looking back at me. I never thought the image in the mirror would ever look pretty again or reflect who I truly am on the inside.

My best friend invited me to his Halloween party in 2008. I was dreading going as he lived far away and shy of he and his wife, I wouldn't know anyone else that would be there.

Come Friday (October 31st), I made a deal with myself. I have always wanted to wear a really pretty dress in public but never had the guts to do it. I went to Walgreen's and picked up some makeup... even asking ladies in the makeup isle for makeup advice while I was there! I went home, finished my work, passed out the Halloween candy, then began my transformation.

I felt SO GOOD as I drove up to his house! By the time I stepped out of my car, I felt like a complete woman. I confidently strutted into the party. Although I got stares and remarks, I did not care. I felt pretty and wasn't going to let anyone ruin my night. I spent the night embracing my femininity. Although (in retrospect) I looked like a hairy man in a dress, I had the most AMAZING night, being a confident woman, and just being one-of-the-girls!

The next day I awoke feeling so liberated... So free... I went on the Internet and began to study makeup, body shaping and hair removal techniques. I was determined to get to the point where I could go out on a daily basis, being a total girlie-girl, and looking like one as well.

After 2 years of horrific makeup attempts, I finally got my makeup to the point where I was happy with what I was seeing in the mirror. I began to realize that it wasn't too late and that, with A LOT of WORK, I could actually become a "passable woman". I began HRT (to feminize my face and body) and traded my VEET hair removal routine in for a rigid (and somewhat painful) laser hair removal routine.

By 2012, I was actually confident enough to post my face on Flicker... and by January of 2014, I finally began to trek out in public, in full "a-la-fem" mode, without using Halloween as an excuse!

It's been a long, hard road... and I know I still have the toughest challenges ahead of me... but despite the pain, I'm glad I decided to pursue this journey... and proud of how much I have have overcome... and how far I've come since that night when I decided to change the caterpillar into a butterfly.