I glance at myself in a mirror, I still see a shadow on my face where the beard used to be. I approach the mirror, put my face a few inches away from it, puff out my lip. I hunt for the dark hairs, the survivors, the stragglers.... they're nowhere to be seen.
I pull away from the mirror, I still see the shadow, but the shadow is in my mind, it's not real. I'm the only one that sees it, I know, I've checked, both with people who have known both sides of my weird little coin, as well as with those who have only known the new me...... real me......
I occasionally get hit on by random strangers, nothing creepy or negative, at least not yet, but it does happen. To me, I'm still visible, still obviously trans, but again, that seems to be just in my head. I wasn't expecting this, being able to pass, without trying, without heavy makeup and perfect outfits. One would think that this is the goal right?, actually, for me it complicates things. I don't know if they know, if I reciprocate on the flirting, and they don't know, what will happen when they find out?... because that painter that is working on my building who always stops his work and finds a reason to chat with me.... holy crap is he ever cute. It's like I have this piece of cake being dangled in front of me, but I'm scared to reach out for it. If I knew he knew and he was still acting that way, great, I feel safe, but now?, not so much.
I'm getting what I've always wanted, and it scares me.....
I started a new contact staff class, went out for a few drinks with the teacher after class, a funny way to name myself as trans came up in a conversation and I took it.... turns out I blew his mind.... I had to convince him I used to be the guy that I showed him a picture of, in his words, he would have never guessed in a million years..... and I do my class in knee length leggings and a spaghetti strap camisole (tank top), body completely visible to all that are interested, and he didn't know.
{I kind of ended up in bed with the last teacher, this guy is way cuter, I wanted to make sure he knew who I was}
Yet when I look at myself in the mirror, I can still tell, I think I'll always see him. Which is weird because when I look back at my life, I see her.... a trans woman yes.... but a woman none the less. My memories are shifting, it's amazing how malleable our minds are, how our memories can be altered, makes me wonder about the very nature of reality, but that's another discussion.
I'm coming out of a fog, a fog that has great success in pulling me back in and enveloping me in green smoke, but I'm crawling out, I'll fight it, I won't let myself slip back. It's a good thing
peace
