Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
I discuss being a senior transgender woman quite often. To my knowledge I have never discussed what I would have told myself during my stressful teenaged years concerning my future. Of course I am aware it’s a useless exercise because my crystal ball was broken. In fact, those of you who may remember the “Eight Ball” game, I would have been behind the eight ball more than in front of it.
Looking back, I would try to advise my younger self to be patient. Easier said than done when you are advising a teen ager, or even a later age. I often wonder how my life would have been different if it would have not been re-directed by my military service which was forced upon me during the Vietnam War by the draft.
Through a series of fortunate circumstances I was able to continue my passion to work in the radio business as a DJ even when I was in the Army. The problem I continue to have was what would I do about my gender dysphoria while I served my time. Of course I was scared to death and wondered how I would make it through three years without so much as touching any of my feminine collection.
It’s easy to say now but I should have known where there is a will, there is a way. In fact after approximately a year and a half of my three years of service, I was able to gather my courage to come out to several of my closest friends. I told them I was a transvestite following a Halloween party I went to dressed “to the nines” as a woman. Somehow my “dirty little secret” was never revealed to my superiors by anyone and I finished my three years without any incidents.
Through it all, I still resisted any offers to re-up and extend my military service. My impatience was at a all time high and I couldn’t wait to return to my civilian world. Little did I know, all I would do was begin a frenetic life’s journey designed to try to outrun my gender dysphoria in my twenties. Perhaps the biggest warning came from my earliest gender psychologist who told me I was Bi-polar (which could be treated) but I would never get past my gender issues.
I was seemingly doomed to continue down a path of alcoholic fueled activity. After buying (and losing) a small bar, I divorced my first wife and remarried and picked up and moved from Ohio to the metro NYC area. One of…
