Two Weekends

The past two weekends have been quite a contrast to each other but both have been interesting, productive and enjoyable overall.  I was able to spend the first weekend of June with my boyfriend and of course time spent with Mitchell is always special, so being able to spend an entire weekend with him is the best.  Last weekend I drove myself to Pennsylvania for a massive, 2 day electrolysis session.  Having needles stuck in your face for 14 hours over 2 days is not what most of us would consider fun, but even though  there was some discomfort involved, the trip was fun because I got to get out of town and visit another part of the country that I had not been to in a long time.  Considering this trip had its own special conditions and limitations, I managed to make the drive up north and back as enjoyable as possible.

May 31- June 2

This was a really fun weekend and I am so lucky I got to spend it all with Mitchell.  I had an appointment with my stylist for hair color at 2:15 in Raleigh and he met me downtown when I got through.  We went out to dinner at 42nd Street Oyster Bar, which is a really cool restaurant with a great atmosphere that has been a Raleigh institution for many, many years.  I wish I could give them a better review on their food but I will just say that we were glad to go there and see it and will probably try somewhere else next time.  After supper we went to my favorite shoe store, DSW, and Mitchell got me a couple pair of shoes and one for himself.  I should be pretty set shoe wise for summer now although I am still looking for that perfect pair of low wedge heels and of course another perfect pair of heels.

Dining at 42nd Street Oyster Bar

Designer Shoe Warehouse, a warehouse full of shoes!

Mitchell followed me home Friday night and we had all of Saturday in Rocky Mount together.  After spending much of the morning in bed we went out to lunch at the Highway Diner here in town.  This was our second weekend in a row dining there so our waitress from last time recognized us and branded us as regulars.  The food is very good there, and reasonable, so I do think we will be eating at the diner often.  They also have some of the best cake and milkshakes in town so I know Mitch is dying to go back soon.  After lunch we went to a nail salon and I got a French manicure for the first time.  I really love these nails and I think I am sold on keeping my nails professionally done now, after frustratingly trying to grow mine out for so long.  It seems like just when I would get my nails where I want them they would start breaking, one by one, so I have thrown in the towel for now.  Saturday night I cooked us a couple of steaks and some veggies and we sat back and watched  movies and old episodes of the Sopranos on DVD.  The best part of having Mitchell over is that we get to cuddle all night, although I love everything about having him here.



Highway Diner

My new French Tip nails.

Sunday we went out to eat at Cracker Barrel for lunch and I cooked some pork chops here for dinner.  I know he hates to leave me to go back north for work, and I hate to see him go, but after dinner we watched some more of the Sopranos DVDs and then it was time to say goodbye.  I really missed him last weekend but I had a mission to accomplish and he needed to spend some time with his kids.

Riding to Cracker Barrel on Sunday

June 6th-9th

Last Thursday I boarded the dogs in a nice kennel and headed the van north on I-95 towards York, Pennsylvania.  I had purchased 14 pre paid hours of electrolysis from a friend and I had a full facial clearing scheduled for Friday and Saturday with James Walker from Executive Clearance.  I left about 12:10 and did not make it to my hotel in York until about 9;15 pm.  This wouldn't be so bad if I had made some sightseeing stops outside the car but the truth is I was in the car almost the entire day except to go to restroom, fuel the van or eat a sandwich I brought from home.  Google says this trip should take less than 5.5 hours. 

When having facial electrolysis you have to let targeted hair grow out for a few days so I had not shaved in over 3 days when I left.  I am at the point I can get by in public with a day off from shaving but this was ridiculous as far as going places and expecting to pass.  I only stopped at rest areas to use the bathroom and I did have to get gas one time and went to one drive through window for a Starbucks coffee.  Other than that it was quick in and out of the restrooms and I made a point not to interact with anyone.  Even with that limitation I wanted to have a little fun on the way up so I decided to make a side trek into downtown Washington D.C. to see the nation's capitol out my car window.

US Capitol Building

I began to run into heavy traffic on and off when I reached the Fredricksburg, Virginia area.  Traffic around Washington is notorious, especially in the stretch from Fredricksburg to DC and especially at rush hour in the mornings and afternoons.  I veered off of I-95 onto I-395 thinking it would take me through the city and out the other side.  I was still going north so I was still on course, or so I thought.  It turns out that 395 is a spur into the District of Columbia that just spills out onto city streets once it gets in the city.  At the end of I-395 I rode around downtown a little bit, getting that picture of the capitol while at a stoplight and soaking in some other sights of this great city.  I really did enjoy riding around down there so it was worth the detour. 

Road construction and big buildings everywhere

The Capitol in the distance

Homeless people on the streets of the capitol city of the United States.

Traffic was murder coming back out of DC on I-395.  It was now after 4pm and people were getting off work from government and other jobs en masse.  I crept back over the Potomac River bridge and followed a sign leading to the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which would lead me to I-495 north into Maryland.  The parkway is actually a beautiful road along the Potomac and if you didn't know you were so close to a major city, you would think you were on a scenic drive such as the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Traffic was heavy on the GW but not too bad until I got closer to the end of the 11 mile drive, then it started backing up again.  There are actually scenic overlooks along the Potomac so I stopped at a couple of them, got out and took a look and a couple of pictures.

The Potomac River as seen from an overlook on the George Washington Memorial Parkway

While at a stoplight in Washington I set my phone's GPS to give me the directions to the hotel address in York, Pa.  I remember it gave me the option of an identical address in several other Pennsylvania cities but I thought I had highlighted York before pressing enter.  At the end of the GW Parkway I merged onto I-495 north and the bumper to bumper stop and go (mostly stop) traffic made for some extremely slow driving.  I finally turned off of 495 onto I-270 north, towards Frederick Maryland.  Traffic was no better on this road and when I finally made it to Gaithersburg I was almost out of fuel and had to make a pit stop.  It took me about one hour to exit that road, find a gas station (it was not near the exit and no signs pointed to it), and that gas station did not have a restroom so I struggled through traffic until I found a McDonald's.  I just didn't feel like eating anything there so I sat in the van and at a sandwich from home before hitting the road again.  I couldn't resist the Starbucks with a drive through window that I passed before getting back onto the interstate.

By now it was almost 7 pm but the traffic wasn't any better.  As I crept north and got a little farther from rush hour, traffic started moving better but it was still slow going.  Near Frederick I was able to travel at almost the speed limit and then I saw an other turn off for a scenic overlook with some historical significance I didn't take note of.  Soon after stopping at the overlook, I turned off onto US 15 north towards the Pennsylvania border and this turned out to be a very pretty stretch of highway.  There were mountains in the distance to my left and I passed by Gettysburg and the historic Civil War battlefield.  In one of the small towns I saw a turn off to the right for York but I stuck with my GPS and stayed north on highway 15.  As darkness set in on this cloudy day I found myself approaching the capitol city of Harrisburg, Pa.  In the past I would have had a map handy but I was relying on my trusty GPS and as I got into a city I turned onto Market Street and the phone indicated I was arriving at my destination.

View from a scenic overlook near Frederick, Maryland

I knew I was in the wrong place so I broke out the reading glasses and then realized that I was in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.  When I finally programmed the address in York, the GPS said it was 31 miles away.  It was now almost 8:30 pm and I had overshot my destination but it didn't really bother me.  I had seen parts of the country I would not have seen if I had driven the direct route and all I had to do when I got there was sit in a hotel room.  After 9:00 I pulled into the hotel parking lot in York and checked into my home for the next 3 nights.

Electrolysis

The next morning I drove to the appointed site, met James Walker and signed the usual release forms necessary to for him to perform electrolysis on me.  He took a little time going over the entire process and even though I had had electrolysis before at two other places, I did learn quite a bit.  He has some of the newest, state of the art equipment and I was impressed by his knowledge and dedication to his practice.  Over the course of the next 2 days I found out that his technique is less painful and much faster than any other operator I had experienced or have knowledge of.   Most of his clients are transgender and his approach of clearing the entire face, waiting a couple of months for the next growth cycle to come in and doing it again, is what I think will be the most effective for me both in terms of overall cost and time needed to attain my goal.  Electrolysis is one aspect of transition I feel I am behind on and I would love to have had all my facial hair cleared before I went full time but I wasn't close.  Working with James I should be through the worst of it in 6 months or so although it may take another year after that to get it All.

After the first full day of electrolysis, with half my face a little puffy and red from the treatment and the other half with hair still on it, I went into a Japanese restaurant and ordered a take out. I went outside and used the phone and when I went back in, paid for the order and picked it up the lady at the restaurant addressed me as ma'am which was a relief considering I was at perhaps my lowest moment of confidence ever.

I was prepared to stay a third day, if necessary to clear all my face, but at the end of the second day we were finished.  There are only two more places in the country that I know of that do these full facial clearings for trans patients.  The other one I was considering is way out in Dallas, Texas and they use 2 technicians working on you simultaneously.  It usually takes them 2 days with 2 techs to do an initial clearing so I was really relived to see that James really could get finished as fast as he did.  I would definitely recommend Executive Clearance to anyone serious about getting electrolysis.

My face didn't look bad at all at the end of the second day and with all my facial hair gone I went out to eat a salmon dinner before going back to the room.  There was still an hour or two of daylight left so I decided to go back out and ride around York to see what the rest of the city was like.  I was a little bit puffy so I really didn't feel like doing anything but riding around and I don't care to go to any bars or clubs by myself, but historic downtown York did look like a really cool place with some really old buildings, many of which have been restored and are now nice restaurants and bars.  The streets are lined with older row houses, some restored nicely and some not, and the residential architecture reminds me of Philadelphia or Baltimore.

Nightlife seemed pretty vibrant downtown on a Saturday night.

Downtown York



Row houses in downtown York

The Drive Home

Sunday I woke up and enjoyed one last free breakfast at the motel, got a shower, slapped on some sun screen and BB cream and hit the road for home.  I left a little before 10:00 am and needed to be back in town by 5 pm to pick up the dogs.  This time I had the GPS set correctly and actually the route is pretty straightforward, with all interstate highways, going by Baltimore and Washington DC.  I decided to take a little sightseeing jaunt into downtown Baltimore but other than that I stayed on the interstate heading south.

I parked in a 5 minute loading zone right next to the water at the Inner Harbor and got out and took a few pictures.  This is a very nice area on the waterfront with lots of upscale shops and restaurants.  People were strolling around the sidewalks and along walkway by the water on this nice, partly cloudy day.  I wish I could have spent more time down there but I had to hit the road after a short stop.  Getting in and out of downtown Baltimore was very easy on this Sunday morning and the only traffic problems I encountered on the return trip were on that infamous stretch south of Washington DC. 

Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Domino Sugar plant as seen from the Inner harbor

Lots of boats and nice condos

I made it back to Rocky Mount just in time to pick up my dogs.  I don't know who was happier, me to see them or them to see me but I know we were all happy to get home.  I will be going back to Pennsylvania in August for another full clearing and will be making a few more out of town trips with Mitchell in the meantime.  We are supposed to go to Charlotte and Raleigh for a couple of parties and I am planning another trip up to the mountains to see him, so July should be a busy month for travelling.

These last two weekends were fun but I did miss my baby last weekend.  He is going to stay with me through Saturday this weekend and then go see his kids for Father's Day.  I will be taking my Mom and Dad out to eat on Sunday and giving Dad his card and presents.  We have already gotten a head start on this weekend after a bad derecho storm hit Lynchburg and knocked out power.  Mitchell decided to come see me a day early and he got here last night about 10pm so we got to cuddle all night.  He's going to be here for about 24 more hours so I am going now to spend some quality time with my baby and I hope y'all have a great weekend, wherever you are.  :)

Sisters

The Matthews Sisters.  That has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  I grew up as an only child so I have never known what it is like to have sisters or brothers.  Of course I am very fortunate to have all my trans sisters now.  We are all a sisterhood of sorts and then there are other sisterhoods within the greater sisterhood; like the Vanity Club, The Sisterhood Facebook group and several more.  Then there are the few close friends who are like my sisters and we consider each other sisters, such as my close sis Pam and Brenda that I shared time at the beach with this spring, my pen pal and friend Linda from Belgium, my big sister Karen from the VC and a few more. 

So I have a nice set of honorary sisters, some of whom I am closer to than others, and many of whom I have never met offline because they live far away.  They all form part of my support network and group of friends.  They all important to me and I would not trade any of them for the world.  Still, to have a real sister in my very small family would be great and I wish I had had that growing up.  More than likely I would not have known a biological sister, as I am adopted, but my adopted family has been better than any other I could have been blessed with so I am more than ok with the idea of adopting a sister. 

Since Joan and I separated last December we have been through a lot of changes and stages in redefining our relationship.  The marriage never worked and was not right for us but yet we feel very close and have a need to be together on some level.  Most of my extreme emotional stress over the last few months was related not only to the separation but my fear that she no longer felt this bond and that we would never be able to get it back.  That hurt me very deeply and I did not know how to deal with it.  Lately I have written about how we are becoming closer again and actually communicating in a way that perhaps we never have before.  I want her, need her, to be an important part of my life and now I am sure she also wants me to be an important part of hers.  We are not just friends but also family and we will always share a close bond, one that we never really had as a married couple.  We have decided to be sisters. 

Since we both share the same last name we are, in effect, the Matthews sisters.  Joan was telling me yesterday how badly she felt for leaving us right before Christmas and she wished she had handled it a different way or at least waited until after Christmas to leave.  She felt bad for me and the dogs, especially her beloved Jumper but she was being pressured by certain members of her family who live out of state and no longer seem to have the same level of influence on her.  The sister that she went to live with in Raleigh has remained sort of neutral and now is saying that it is ok for me to come to her home to visit Joan.  I have always loved Joan's daughter (from a  previous marriage) but I never was comfortable in a "father" role even though she had already left home when we got married.  We are talking now and I know that she has been my ally in supporting me and helping Joan reach a level of understanding that allows her and I to communicate again. 

So as our separation rolls on into month 6 now of the required one year in order to divorce in this state, our relationship begins a new chapter.  She was saying yesterday that maybe we shouldn't divorce and you may remember that I was having those feeling a couple of months ago.  I brought up the fact that since we know we will not have a "real" or romantic marriage that it is best that we go through with the divorce.  I am so glad that I got to this place in my head before she proposed us staying together because this winter I probably would have agreed to that.  But being married is not what we need even though we do need to be together in some way.  Being sisters is what I think will work for us and to my delight, Joan agrees totally.

We have less tension between us than I ever remember us having and I no longer lie to her about anything.  Joan doesn't have any problem calling me Tammy now and if she slips up she corrects herself.  She is good with my family and I am good with hers, at least any of her family that I might run into around here.  The only thing is that she has not met Mitchell and I am not sure how that will go.  She does support my new relationship and seems to like the fact that he and I are moving forward with our long term relationship.  They have personalities that could clash in certain ways and I am sure it would not work with all of us living together in one house.  Would it work with us living together in the two houses here on my property?  I don't know.  I think it might but they both seem to think there could be conflicts.  We will just see how things work out but over time.  One of the only constants in my life right now is change so all of this is subject to change but I feel they will meet eventually and at least come to some sort of understanding.  She is my sister and he will have to respect her on that level at least and he is my boyfriend and she does seem to want what's best for me.  After all, she is my sister.  :)




 

Really Big Update




A really big kiss for Mitchell for bringing me flowers again.

This is a "Really Big Update" because it updates an entire month in my life, it showcases another trip and big time at the beach where I also celebrated completing my first year of hormones, which is a really big milestone for me.  It has been over a month since my first beach trip in a year and a half, when I met my long time internet friend and sister Pam West.  Also, I haven't had a big cry in over a month and while that feels a little weird for me after that being such a regular occurrence in the first part of the year, I guess that it is a good thing even though I have had just a few "little" cries over small things.  I have finally adjusted to living alone, gotten over most of the grief of my spouse leaving and then our first dog, Jumper, passing away.   I am just in a lot better emotional state than I was just a little over a month ago.  Maybe it is because I am not depressed now, but I am getting out more often and doing everything from shopping to dinners with friends and even walking my two dogs a lot more. Going to the beach was a real refresher for me after a period of rejuvenation that kind of kick started me into a good mood this spring.

The week after I got back from the beach trip with Pam, Donna Simms and I had our last class with the Voice and Communication Group at UNC Greensboro. We got our graduation "Certificates of Excellence" and it was wonderful having the "diploma" in my (preferred and soon to be) real name. I have gained more confidence from this class and confidence is key in transition.   I also enjoyed making a great new friend, Donna Simms, and we are trying to continue getting together when we can.  She doesn't have too many chances to get out as herself and I don't have too many chances to get out of my town and do something interesting, so we should be in for some fun times ahead.  Hopefully, we can go to some museums that interest both of us, go shopping more and even find new areas to explore.

Donna and I got a chance to go to the Southern Women's Home Show in Raleigh one Saturday and fortunately Mitch didn't mind going with us, as he was at my house for that entire weekend.  He has been staying over more often on the weekends and sometimes not leaving to go out of town for work until Monday morning. I have appreciated more time with my boyfriend and he has even been fixing some of the broken things in my house, but I know he needs time with his kids too.  I am just glad to have a place for him to come and I have enjoyed cooking for him and all the times we have gone out.



At the Southern Women's Home Show

I went up to Raleigh one day to go shopping with Lisa Lesher, who lives near the coast, as she was in Raleigh for a doctor's (endo) appointment.  She doesn't get up this way much but we had a great time and she has invited me to come down and visit and/or stay with her sometime.  This is cool as she is a fun person and lives only 10 miles from the beach.  The following week Donna and I had our first weekday out together since class ended and we went to several places shopping, including an outlet mall.  She was in her own county and went by the county office to pay some bills, which I thought was very neat.  She even took me to a famous little hot dog stand there in Smithfield, where they serve Carolina Packers "red hot dogs" that are made right in town.  Hopefully we will get to have another day like that soon.



At Crabtree Mall with Lisa

In Smithfield with Donna.

At a cool little hot dog joint.

In my therapy sessions we have been discussing my continuing attachment to my spouse and my therapist, like so many other people I know, is having trouble understanding why Joan still seems to have so much control over me.  Actually, that is one of the questions I had for her as a therapist, and she brought up the idea that perhaps I view Joan as I would a child.  She said that is not uncommon for adopted people who have never had children of their own to take someone under their wing like this, but I don't know what I think of that theory.  I do want to explore that in more depth, as I think my relationship with Joan is more complex that even I had realized.  I have been writing a lot about my relationship with her and its ever changing dynamics and I have not been writing as much about my relationship with Mitchell, perhaps because it is more straightforward and also because it is going so well.  He is still the light in my life and the picture of us at the top of this blog sums up how we are getting along now.  

I still have a strong desire to take care of Joan in as many ways as I can but we have not figured out exactly how that is going to work yet.  I ran into somewhat of a problem when she did not want me to proceed with my name change while we are still legally married.  As I reported recently, she and I are getting along even better now and now she says she is finally ok with it, so I am proceeding to file the legal papers to change my name to Tammy Ann Matthews. :)

Mother's Day came the week after I spent a Sunday afternoon with my parents and spouse for our first time together since I came out and went full time.  Mitchell was in town again the next Sunday, on Mother's Day, and Mom invited him over to have lunch and spend the afternoon visiting.  Two weeks in a row with my parents and first my old and then new partners could be seen as a little odd but I consider them both family, just in different ways, so actually all this was another form of rejuvenation for me.  We had a great afternoon and I wouldn't trade either one of those Sundays for anything, as I think they were both important for my growth and mental well being.  If I could put a title on the following picture it would be "Family" and I hope that will be the case for a long time.  Right now I feel better about this picture than any I have ever taken.

Mother's Day with my boyfriend and parents.

My therapist also thinks I need more of a social life to help me take my mind off things that bother me, like my separation.  Well, I think I stay pretty busy and between taking care of my parents, spending time with Mitchell  and going out with friends in Raleigh, I think my social life is pretty full.  I have been making an effort to meet more friends lately and spend more time out with other people.  I don't have any friends here in my own town, so my weeknights are usually spent at home alone, but I am busy almost every day during the day.  Facebook have helped me connect with more people like myself and luckily I have been able to meet more of them in person lately.

After having that great (but too short) beach trip last month with Pam, I also wanted to make another 2 night trip to the coast with my dogs, so we went last week on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Nightingale had never been to the ocean and it had been about 3 years since Buddy went down to the coast.  In the past, Joan and I would always take Buddy and Jumper and Night would stay in the kennel.  We needed a family vacation after all we have been through with Joan leaving and Jumper becoming handicapped then passing away, so I decided to take them to the Outer Banks before the rates go up on Memorial Day and before it gets too hot and humid.  We rented a little 2 bedroom apartment at a motel for 2 nights in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

Walking on the beach with Nightingale and Buddy

Buddy (top) and Night and Buddy, in the apartment.

A friend I met on Facebook, Brenda Roberts, drove down to the beach from Virginia on Tuesday to spend some time with us and celebrate her birthday and also my one year anniversary on HRT, a birthday of sorts for me.  Both milestones were on Wednesday May 15th.  I had never met Brenda in person, but we hit it off right away so she stayed with us in the spare bedroom the first night.  We had a blast talking, walking on the beach, going to the pier and lighthouse, then going out to dinner and to a great local brewery that night.  She is a little bit older than me and had SRS back in 1977.  I am honored that she also wants to be my sister as well as friend and help guide me in any way possible during transition.  Everything about my transition seems to be blessed so far, and meeting Brenda and having this great trip for my one year anniversary line right up with that experience.  I can't wait to see what my second year has in store for me but I feel like its going to be even better than the first.



Brenda and I on Jennette's Pier in Nags Head.



Bodie Island Lighthouse

Brenda and I at Outer Banks Brewing Station Tuesday night.



Nightingale and Buddy on the beach Wednesday.

Brenda went home Wednesday afternoon and I chilled with dogs a little while and then met my friend that lives close to the beach, Lisa, at her workplace and went out for dinner with her on her break.  She works until midnight and she also said that she had stopped by the bar the night before but missed Brenda and I by about 20 minutes.  We had a nice seafood dinner (I only ate seafood on this beach trip) and after dinner I went back to the room.  Wednesday night I spent some quality time with the dogs and some quiet time alone by the sea, writing this Facebook post when I got in.


After spending most of my beach trip with friends, I took tonight to quietly reflect back on my first year of transition and look ahead to the rest of the journey. It was a nice clear night on the Outer Banks and I enjoyed the rest of the IPA beer from Outer Banks Brewery while watching the stars and ocean on the motel's upstairs crow's nest and down by the surf.


Thursday morning I got up, walked the dogs on the beach and got ready to check out.  I got a call from Lisa saying that she was unexpectedly off for the entire day, so we made a plan to take my dogs back to her house over across the bridge, leave them in her fenced in back yard, and come back to the beach for some lunch and a round of miniature golf.  It had been years since I played any sort of golf, but after one last seafood lunch at a cool little take out place, we went to the big Lost Treasures Miniature Golf course and played 18 holes.  

Working on my short game

Inside one of the caves at Lost Treasures Mini Golf

Cooling off on a hot day

The trip had started off on a cool Tuesday, perhaps the last really cool day of spring.  Wednesday, a stiff southwest breeze blew all day and it warmed up and by Thursday it had gotten pretty hot, so I am glad the dogs had a shady place to spend the afternoon so that I could enjoy one more afternoon at the beach and spend more time with my friend Lisa.  Lost Treasures is a really cool putt putt course and after we finished we went to a gift shop then left the beach, heading back over the bridge one last time.  Lisa lives very near the Albermarle Sound so we stopped by a little beach there to look at the water and get a few pictures.  Here I am, in the picture below, showing ya'll the big body of water that I used to spend a lot of time on.   I worked on a boat sampling fish with various types of commercial gear when I lived in Elizabeth City and worked for Marine Fisheries as a Fisheries technician II.



The Albermarle Sound

We left Lisa's house about 4 pm and on the way home we stopped by Elizabeth City to view the pretty waterfront there, then drove out to see the trailer I used to live in on Hall's Creek.  The trailer and trailer park were in worse condition than when I lived there in the mid to late 1900's, but not much worse.  The one thing I really loved about that place had not changed, the water.  I used to enjoy some very good freshwater fishing right behind my trailer and great saltwater fishing was not far away.  My trailer had a canal out back that opened up into a widening creek that led to the wide Little River, which after a few miles flowed into the miles wide Albermarle Sound.  There is a lot of water in that part of northeastern North Carolina and in many ways it is still God's country up there.
 

Elizabeth City waterfront, Pasquotank River



Hall's Creek Trailer park and my old home

I lived here for almost 4 years.  During Hurricane Fran, in 1996, I spent the night in this trailer rocking around in the heavy winds and in the morning we were surrounded by flood waters.  By noon the canals were almost dry as the wind had shifted and blown the water to the other side of the sound.

It was a great trip and a its been great month to reflect back on with this update!  After the separation with my partner of 25 years I needed a vacation, so I took 2 short ones in the course of a month.  Getting out of the house, going out of town, spending more time with my boyfriend and more time with friends old and new has really made me feel wonderful again.  I am enjoying my life as Tammy now and I am honestly enjoying life more than ever.  Remembering back, I did enjoy all the time I spent travelling with my parents when I was a child, but when I was about age 12 my mind went black in a way and I was not able to fully enjoy life the way the way it should be.  Now that I am feeling more and more comfortable with myself and comfortable around other people, things are really cool.  I can't wait to see what my second year of transition has in store for me.  What is next in Tammy World?  It should keep getting better, so stay tuned!




Mr. Buddy at Hall's Creek



Mrs. Nightingale on the beach



On the pier
Standing on top of the Atlantic Ocean
The winds of change are blowing
Tammy World 2013