Chon Buri (Photo credit: Octanou)
Around this time ten years ago I was just about to start my journey to Thailand and was waiting for my brother and his wife to take me to Manchester Airport for the short hop to Heathrow. It was the 12th October but was the 13th October when I arrived at Bangkok, once there I was taken directly to the hospital in Chon Buri for my operation the following day, the fourteenth. The story is in the ‘My journey’ page above. Well what has it been like these past ten years? At first it was difficult as I still had problems ‘passing’, still hadn’t quite pulled it off after a couple of years transitioning but as the next few years rolled by things got better and better. I can say now that I have very few problems on that front. It is difficult enough transitioning without having the hassle from unsympathetic, insensitive and ignorant people trying to make life even more difficult. Thankfully any problems I might have had in the past were minimum but whenever I was mistreated I didn’t let it get me down, after all it wasn’t me who had the problem! The best years have been the last five or six as far as my life as a woman is concerned and it has all been worthwhile getting to where I am now. It should have happened long ago, longer than the ten years it has been. I am a woman accepted in society and rightly so, for that is what I am. When I first started into transition it was the small things that made me feel good, people calling me ‘madam’, using the correct pronouns, using local colloquialisms such as ‘love’, ‘honey’, ‘darling’, being as a guy, chivalrous opening doors and such things. Now I take them all in my stride, like I have always been treated that way. The natural has taken over and is less nurture now. It has been a journey I didn’t really feel I should have needed to take but one that I had to undertake. I have no regrets in the transition and the way things have turned out. looking back over the ten years I think I have done very well and it gets better every day! I would like to celebrate the occasion in some way but I haven’t decided what way that may be. A meal with my family would be nice but I may have to settle with just one person, E. That would be really nice, knowing that she finally has come to terms with and has totally accepted me as the woman I am, something I feel she still has problems with occasionally. I hope the next ten years, God willing, will be even better.
Shirley Anne
Related articles
- Thailand – A Hundred Holidays in One (roixcroix.wordpress.com)
