I had a week! I went to the salon with my spouse for their appointment, and chatted up the front desk and my usual stylist. I’ve been getting crew cuts with clippers here for 15 years. I told them I was transitioning and needed help growing out and styling and THEY. WERE. ECSTATIC! I spent almost an hour talking with everyone at the salon about hair, clothes, makeup, an upcoming pride festival, and just generally enjoying life as myself for once! What an affirming day :)

I followed that affirming day up with heart problems and a cardio visit that pointed the blame at anti-androgens, so I finally convinced my clinic to switch from spiro, finasteride, and oral E to EV injection monotherapy. I hope that stabilises my mood, accelarates my changes, and finally kicks the T to the curb. Otherwise I’m going to beg for orchi next.

I went for another run this weekend, and realized I finally had a physical body change. I also realized I needed to buy a running bra way sooner than I expected, because that HURT. I’m happy that my body is finally starting to change almost two months in to HRT, but I was not prepared. At least it was only a 5k. I cannot imagine what it would have been like if I had signed up for a half marathon this weekend. I might have gotten my first DNF if I had!

I also realize that I’m part of an extremely lucky small group of trans women. I have an absolutely loving and fantastic spouse that has been nothing but supportive through this entire process. They stand by me, cover for me when I need it (they even go with me and “pick out their own makeup” for me when we’re shopping together!), and accept me for who I am. They’re also not shy about calling me out when a style is a definite no for me. It’s nice to be able to just cuddle up on the couch with our cats and enjoy some tea together. We’ve been together for a very long time, but I’m falling in love all over again!