Shortly after starting my medical transition, I received a message from a person on a dating app. For the first couple of months, we texted each other on the app. It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold a conversation while texting, so I decided to give them my phone number. Then, we would talk on the phone almost every day for hours. We were able to talk on the phone for so long because we were both truck drivers. This went on for a few months, then we decided to meet

After coming out as transgender, I started driving with my dad. This was so I could take over hauling liquid helium containers for him. My parents suggested that I seek out a therapist to help me really figure out my dysphoria. It took a few months to find a therapist that dealt with the LGBTQ+ community. While seeing my therapist, I was not always dressing because I was driving with my dad. However, I would dress when I went to my therapist's office. I saw my therapist twice

Finally free, I am finally free!!! Well, that is what I was thinking back then. With just starting my career in truck driving I was thinking I could have all the fem clothes I wanted. The problem though is the company I had gotten my CDL with wanted me to team up with someone. Well since I was working off the tuition that the school wanted my hands were metaphorically tied. I teamed up for about six months, after that I pretty much was free to do what I wanted to do (as far

I had been working in the culinary field for a few years when I met my third and final female partner. Again, I was starting to feel a little lonely, so I started looking online at some dating apps. There was this one woman who had caught my eye. She lived a few hours away from where I lived. After taking a few months, we decided to meet. I thought we had gotten along reasonably well. We dated (the best we could for a long-distance relationship) for a few months, and then we

About six months after my second marriage was finalized, I attended culinary school. I have been in and out of the restaurant business for most of my working career. I was mainly in the back of the kitchen prepping the food or out on the line cooking. I had decided to go to school to try and either start my own restaurant or get in with a high-end place. While I was going to school, we only had class three times a week. That left a lot of time to be by myself. I was in a new

My second marriage was several years later. It was a short-lived marriage, only about a year long. Looking back on this, I never should have gotten married to this person. I think the reason I did is that I was lonely and needed companionship. There were several red flags that went up, but I chose to ignore them. For instance, she came up one weekend, and I had forgotten to hide one of my nighties and bras. They were in the laundry basket to be washed. When I got home from wo

After my divorce was finalized, I was laid off from work. Fortunately, I was able to find another job shortly afterward. About four months into this job, I noticed I was losing a bunch of weight; I thought it was because I was not eating during the work hours. That would have been fine, but I had lost 20 pounds in three weeks. I did not weigh that much, to begin with. I think I was around 135 pounds. About the fourth week, I noticed that around my belt area was starting to hu

I married a couple of years after graduating high school. This was not really because I was still trying to be the best "male" I could be. No, I got engaged because that is what "men" do when they think they have found the "ONE." We struggled, as I think most do when they are trying to go to college and run a house right out of high school. We were making do with limited funds coming in. That was until we found out she was pregnant about a year and a half after we moved in to

In High School, like many students, I had a part-time job. I worked at a buffet-style restaurant. I worked the buffet as a cook. The...

My teen years were a troubling time for me. I was trying to be the best male I could be, but I kept wanting to be a girl. Every time my...

Well, I suppose I should start when I first started to think I was different. I can remember I was about 4 years old. We were getting...

Identity: The Personal Journey of a Transgender Woman First, I need to ask, what is Identity? Identity, to me, is made up several...