Meeting Claire

Last week just kinda flew by. Every week I count down the time until my next electrolysis session. It’s pretty pathetic, but truthfully, I live for every time she’s zapping hairs. The more hair that is gone, the better I can be Kara without having to load up the makeup. I’ll be so glad when I can at least go out as Kara without too much makeup and still be called “ma’am.”
Last night, I went to a T dinner in the East Bay. It was a mixture of CD’s and TS. Since I arrived later than most, I was on the table that was last to fill. Actually, I enjoy sitting on those tables because I can meet new people. Although I like to keep up with friends, I also like to make new friends. Rachel and I did sit at the same table, but there were many new people I also met. Rachel and I had a decent conversation as usual. She told me she just turned 40 and was getting on with life. She was able to hang out with her female friends from work, and had a new guy she was seeing....sorta. Since she is currently Miss TGSF 2003, we also talked a little about the Cotillion. She’s having SRS right after it, and I’m looking at having FFS right around the same time. Those are bigs steps for the both of us.

In the program for the dinner, it had a line at the bottom that said all the crossdressers had to use the ladies room downstairs. Rachel explained to me that the city we were in had actually determined that a persons chromosomal makeup determined which bathroom one was to use. I thought she was kidding. I told Rachel, ”I’m not a crossdresser...I’m using the regular bathroom...not the men’s.” She said she was going to use the restroom upstairs or not at all. When I asked the organizer of the dinner, she said that TS could go wherever. So, when the time arose, we were both off to the women’s bathroom. No problem, even though there was a wedding party at the same facility with a lot of people in and out of the bathrooms. Rachel and I actually kidded around about crashing the wedding party just to do a little dancing and have a little fun. As we were leaving, we almost did. There was a bunch of young women that were leaving their party at the same time, though, and they all looked fabulous. Since we were walking right with them, Rachel turns to me and says, “OK, where are we all headed now?” and then chuckled. I laughed as well.

Rachel and I at the dinner. I'm hiding my chin cuz it was a little swollen from electrolysis. ;)

I headed down to a fellow TGSF board member’s place to do a little revision to the TGSF website. We figured out how to add in a link for the 2004 Cotillion. We still have to take care of some of the PayPal issues. After that, I went to the city to catch a CD friend’s open art studio. I told her I wanted one of them. It’s a picture of a park bench in the rain. I guess I have always been one to enjoy the rain. I love running in the rain. Usually, I am the only one out running which makes it very peaceful. I told her I would love to have a picture of me running in the rain, and she actually mentioned that she was interested in taking of pictures of runners in Golden Gate Park while it was raining. We’ll have to coordinate all of that with Mother Nature.

Afterward, I met up with Claire from GenderPeace. A friend from the board mentioned to me that she was really eager to get out, but since she hadn’t been out that much, she preferred to go with someone. Actually, that’s a very wise decision, and I still prefer the buddy system when going out.

So, this was Claire’s first interactive time out in public. She presented very well for only her third time out. I was impressed. We met in the Castro since they have some decent restaurants, and since it’s mainly a gay male population, one usually won’t run into any problems. We talked over some pasta, then fed our sweet toothes (or is it sweet teeth?) at Ben & Jerry’s. She said she was nervous most of the night, but to me she looked very calm and collective.

After talking, we found we were both military brats growing up in different parts of the US. She’s out to two friends, but afraid to tell her parents for fear that they’ll abandon her. I told her it was good to tell them so they can see the baby steps instead of showing up one day and saying “Look Mom, I have boobs.” I also told her, however, that the downside was if one was relying on them financially, or as a financial backup, then it might be best not to tell them. Unfortunately, everyone reacts differently. In the end, I figure she knows her family best, and she’ll do what’s best for her.