Well, sometimes my oldest calls me Mom, just accidentally/out of habit, and it doesn’t feel any better than Dad. So I don’t think my dysphoria requires Mom, and it’ll be easier for the kiddos as they won’t have to adapt. We’ve been trying to chip at the gender norms and see what fits and what doesn’t, as the wife and I are working this out. She/her/husband/dad might be where we end up so everyone can feel comfortable about where we are as a family.

Yeah, my brother is one of the pastors at our church, and I came out to him on Easter, so this conversation has already started. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my church, I’m afraid I’ll have to find a place that doesn’t assume they have all the answers. But a “long and painful journey” has been my life so far, and both my wife and I are determined to make this work. This is progress, we are headed in the right direction, in the same direction. Feels good.

How does one get a therapist? That’s not something I usually think about.

Thanks for the girl talk. That helps a ton. I especially like the idea of wearing what I normally wear, but girl. I’ll look into some pants, blouses, and sweaters cut for ladies, and see about a bra and maybe some falsies. After that I’ll have to bite the bullet and get some makeup and look in the mirror. I’ve always known what I am, so I’ve leaned pretty hard into the GNC, so I’ve already been painting my nails for a while, and it does give such gender euphoria.

I’ve been using a little laser I bought on Amazon for the last couple of weeks, I think it’s working. Afraid to point it at my face, so I might get that done professionally. Got myself prescriptions for hair loss, we’ll see what happens there.

I got a sugar scrub, is that a good skincare routine? I honestly know nothing about that.

I have one friend who calls me Amber, I’m still kinda closeted to everyone else. I was planning on coming out to my family at the super bowl party at my sister’s house, but we got sick.

HRT is… So I’m married, my wife and I have kids. I’m tied down. I’ve been open and honest about all this with the wife (eventually) and she’s let me know where she is. The current compromise is that I can go full femboy, she has no moral issue with that. She draws the line at HRT. We are Christians, but I’m definitely more liberal and egalitarian than she is, I kinda have to be to exist at all as a trans Christian. I see nothing wrong with being in a homosexual relationships, she does. She’s bi, and maybe agender, but feels she has to suppress it. We’re working through it. Every time I mention this online, people are like “break up with her!” and the answer to that is no. We truly love each other and are going to make this work. I knew when I got married in a conservative church that I would probably never get to transition, I made that choice and I’m going to stick with her. Going “full femboy,” as she put it, is further than I ever thought I’d get to go, and I’m going to take full advantage of that. I’m hoping that when she sees how happy every step of this journey is making me, she’ll eventually call me by my real name and be ok with HRT. We’ll see, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

How did it go?

I wouldn’t feel guilty about not caring about a high-profile death. People you’ve never heard of die every minute, and we aren’t equipped with enough empathy to care about them all.

I’m… hanging in there. The overlap between the Christian and Trans communities is nearly non-existent, and both are blaming the other for all the world’s problems, so being both is really fucking hard right now. My pastor just recently went out of his way to make sure we understood that LGBT=bad and I feel like I should complain but don’t know how to do so without outing myself. I wish I could transition without losing everyone I know and love, and have found myself passively pushing away from old relationships. I’ve been looking into other churches but finding a place that is actually accepting and actually teaches the Bible feels just as impossible as transitioning right now.