Ooohhh, I love those!!!

You're both so beautiful. Giddy-app! I miss riding horses--now it's just a bicycle. 6-legged Pride!  

Yeah. Cheers for acting your identity and your freedom—nothing more cheering than that!

Being able to help others has always helped me feel better. Through my darkest years in '21 & '22 I maintained a number of zoom sessions each week to connect with and support trans people, and every day I would spend a couple of hours online with a trans person with an anxiety disorder to keep her stable. This broke me out of my isolation and concentrating on my own troubles, making me see that others were struggling as badly, and being able to help gave me a sense of worth on those darkest days.   Helping others is rewarding, and can help you through difficult times.   Hugs,   Allie

Morning, Everyone. Welcome to July. what happened to May and June? Had a nice ride with the wife on Sat. Rode up into Estes Park, CO. Then back down to Thunder Mountain Harley for bike night. Which turned out being just a bunch of bikers drinking. So, we just looked around and left. Hauled some A on the way home to beat a brewing thunder storm that went through the area. God the new bike has some power. 105 hp and 140 ftlbs. that is out of 117ci, I just wonder what the 121 feels like.   Already had the wife saying that we need to upgrade the stereo. Can't hear it at hwy speeds. (factory rated at 200w, been tested at 9w a channel pathetic.) and the exhaust this is the quietest Harley we have ever had.   Then my son tells me that the wife has said she had never should have gotten the new bike. I believe that she has said yes and gotten things just because I wanted them. She could have said no to anyone of them. I don't care anymore.   I guess I can't win for losing.   Have a good Holiday week all.   Hugs Kymmie

New shoes !!!

It's hard to offer support to others when I'm dealing with my own pain. Normally I take this time to relax and recharge. If someone needs my help I let them know that that I'm not feeling my best right now, and that I might not be able to offer the same support as usual, but I still care. I think it's okay to say no to requests if I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Luv it!!  

Feeling alone, lost, tired, anxious, and depressed – like nothing was working. Doctors didn't find anything physically wrong, and therapy wasn't the answer I needed at the time. Doing my nails, hair, make up and cross dressing alone at home made me feel better. When he looked in the mirror there I was. He new then that he couldn't no longer repressed me, today we change back and forth intermittently.

I can so relate to this. One of the things that pushed my dysphoria and depression so deep was a Snapchat App that showed what I would look like as a woman. Although it is a much more attractive woman than I could ever be I found myself constantly using it as I wore different clothes and visited different locations. I could take and save pictures and I became obsessed with it. That App showed the me I longed to be.

Ugh, this weekend has been rough.  GF was sick all week, and then yesterday she was feeling worse.  She passed out and fell, and when I picked her up she was sweating really bad and her heart had an irregular rhythm.  She was having pain in her chest... so off to the hospital we went.  I was scared to death, because she had a heart attack 3 years ago, and she's still very young for that sort of thing.  People aren't supposed to have heart attacks in their 30s....   Thankfully, it wasn't another heart attack, but she's not in good shape.  Myocarditis, probably linked to the virus she picked up.  But a bigger issue is that her heart is failing, her circulation is really inefficient.  Not what we wanted to hear, although apparently there are treatments.  She's been given three different prescriptions to try and calm the situation down, including a diuretic that's making her miserable.  And she's not very cooperative either.  She was told "NO ALCOHOL" and "NO HEAVY WORK" and the first thing she does when she gets home is to grab a glass of wine and try to go out to her shop.   I've been staying with her constantly, trying to take care of her and make her behave.  She's so smart in so many ways, but when it comes to taking care of herself, that girl can do some really dumb stuff.  

Congratulations on your release!  I hope adjusting to life again is going well for you.  Rest assured, you won't face any kind of judgement from folks here.  Do you have employment figured out?  Hopefully they had a job search program available for you.  Once you've got the basics of life figured out, then you can be more free to move forward with your trans journey.    My GF's sister spent a couple of years in state prison (and yeah, she was quite guilty).  Since getting out, she's had some tough times as not all employers want to hire her, and her work history before was pretty bad.  I think what kept her going was she met her current partner while she was in prison, and worked hard to set up a life while waiting for her partner's release.  Sometimes having a goal can make all the difference.  So, what are your goals for the next month, six months, and year? 

I had this plan to finally come out to at least my wife in the fall of 2020 when our nest became (mostly) empty.    But then during covid's early days I found that never getting any time alone to dress up was quite stressful, so was playing with the old 'gender swap' on FaceApp instead. The day I took a pic of me outside and genderswapped it I finally cracked, thinking I needed that woman to be out in the world for real. 

Thanks for the feedback @Vidanjali. You’re right, it’s hard to speak on this topic, though in this case that was mainly because of the format. I knew going into this episode that with three of us it would be hard to remain on track, and I did try my best, but I still came away feeling I must learn to do better if I’m to be truly effective. For eg, Ken Zucker’s studies on child “desistance” are not only irrelevant to today’s trans cohorts because they enlisted conversion therapy (and even that is an over-simplification), but because in the 1970s and 80s all types of “effeminate” AMAB kids were included in those studies, so there is no way of knowing which of them were actually trans or not. But in the heat of such a conversation it’s very hard to state all that information before someone else jumps in, and much as I love Ez and June, I did feel that much of what they said was generalisation and ran counter to the evidence-based approach I am trying to take. That said, I’m currently looking at every appearance I make on this topic as training. In future I may need to remain calm and focussed in the midst of a chaotic discussion, and it may be a discussion with far less sympathetic interlocutors than Ez and June. The panel at the pride event this weekend went better, mainly because everyone on the panel seemed to recognise the depth of my knowledge on the subject and gave me the spotlight. But even there I became flustered a couple of times when trying to explain complicated concepts. I still felt pleased overall, and I know the audience was totally onboard, but I jotted down my self-criticisms afterwards so as to hopefully be better prepared next time.    As to your June-like experience with your friend, I remember your post well, and I’m not surprised you still haven’t spoken to your friend on the topic. These conversations are so fraught and — as June pointed out — asymmetrical that it can be tempting to just cut ties with such people. On the other hand it is possible your friend has reflected somewhat and may be more open to your perspective now.

My boyfriend admitting he loves my dreadlocks.I have had them since I was 26 years old part of my life staying with me.

Looks like it was a wonderful day for y'all.

I joined a coven years back, later on the group decided to go their separate ways and so it's back to solitary )O(

Wearing my 46 DDD pushup plunge bra and a tie-dye tank. I’m also wearing short-shorts.   

What a lovely photograph and story of support in your community.  Pride has become such a great way for others to find out that we are not the monsters portrayed by the right wing.      I haven't been to Nova Scotia since 1971, when we drove and camped there on our honey moon.  So much must have changed but i remember the folks were very kind to a pair of newly married hippies.   Hugs,   Charlize