Angels Never Die

All excellent questions.
1.) I didn't realize until later. I was 29 when I first started questioning, went through a pretty bad phase of denial, I wouldn't stop thinking about all the changes I could get physically and mentally, then I started remembering all the things I did that were clear signs over the course of my life. I felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. 
2.) I was just about 32 when I came out.
3.) I was 31 when I started hormones, it all happened very fast. .
4.) Hormones have been relatively easy for me. Felt right from the very beginning and has only served me well since. It's been a lot easier for me to get my emotions out and not bottle them up, I cry easier. I get more mood swings though, and it's harder to keep off weight. My sex drive has plummeted, but I don't miss it.
5.) No, I didn't lose any family. I don't really have much close family outside my immediate family. My mom was very confused at first but now she's very supportive, my sister has seemed fine with it (she doesn't open up about stuff), my brother was extremely supportive, and my dad was really disappointed and he said some really hurtful things but he's come a long way since and we're amicable around each other now. He supports me in his own way. I didn't have many friends, but my one main friend from high school seemed fine about it but he avoids talking about it. 
6.) She/her/hers
7.) I'm with a woman, but we're not married. 
8.) Well sometimes there isn't a big difference between men's clothes and women's clothes, but ultimately yeah, I present as a woman full time. In the first few months of going full time, I dressed as a man twice: Once for the benefit of my dad, and second when I went to a swimming pool at the gym, and that was a mistake. There was a thing several months ago where I was feeling very dysphoric and self-hatey and I was trying to convince my gf I looked like a man, so I dressed in the most masculine clothes I had and needless to say, she wasn't convinced.

Hey all, just wanted to say thanks for asking good questions. This turned out to be kinda therapeutic for me, hopefully it was helpful for you too.

MT, I know we probably have a ton of disagreements, but I find it somewhat validating to notice even conservatives seeing the writing on the wall. This country is on its way down faster than I thought, it's third act time. I believe things will break down completely in my lifetime and that there will be a different government here before I die, but I have no idea what it will look like. I'm seriously considering Canada.

All excellent questions.
1.) I didn't realize until later. I was 29 when I first started questioning, went through a pretty bad phase of denial, I wouldn't stop thinking about all the changes I could get physically and mentally, then I started remembering all the things I did that were clear signs over the course of my life. I felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. 
2.) I was just about 32 when I came out.
3.) I was 31 when I started hormones, it all happened very fast. .
4.) Hormones have been relatively easy for me. Felt right from the very beginning and has only served me well since. It's been a lot easier for me to get my emotions out and not bottle them up, I cry easier. I get more mood swings though, and it's harder to keep off weight. My sex drive has plummeted, but I don't miss it.
5.) No, I didn't lose any family. I don't really have much close family outside my immediate family. My mom was very confused at first but now she's very supportive, my sister has seemed fine with it (she doesn't open up about stuff), my brother was extremely supportive, and my dad was really disappointed and he said some really hurtful things but he's come a long way since and we're amicable around each other now. He supports me in his own way. I didn't have many friends, but my one main friend from high school seemed fine about it but he avoids talking about it. 
6.) She/her/hers
7.) I'm with a woman, but we're not married. 
8.) Well sometimes there isn't a big difference between men's clothes and women's clothes, but ultimately yeah, I present as a woman full time. In the first few months of going full time, I dressed as a man twice: Once for the benefit of my dad, and second when I went to a swimming pool at the gym, and that was a mistake. There was a thing several months ago where I was feeling very dysphoric and self-hatey and I was trying to convince my gf I looked like a man, so I dressed in the most masculine clothes I had and needless to say, she wasn't convinced.

Holy shit, you have a good memory. The answer is not really, I've been able to personally move on from it since then, with I think the help of transition. I'm still upset it happened though, especially since I would've had more tissue for my surgery.

My teen years were very dark, my mental state got considerably worse after I had begun puberty. I don't want to go into detail.
So the difference between gender and sex can be confusing, I want to validate that it's hard to fully understand, and it doesn't help that a lot of trans people are uncomfortable talking about this individually because we're so on guard from people using some variation we have as ammunition to invalidate us. I'll start off using myself as an example: I expressed very feminine early on in my exploration, which is very common for trans women. I was trying to be recognized as the gender I identified with despite not having as much time to physically transition yet, and people were more likely to recognize what I was going for when I was hyper-feminine. Trans women (or men) can vary in their gender expression just as much as cis people do, and if you take me for example, I still dress casually feminine a lot of the time, but as I've grown more comfortable with my body, I've started to dress a little more "dykey," and I would dress that way more if it didn't lead to me being misgendered sometimes. When I think about my situation, I identify as a woman, and will want to embody that socially and aesthetically to varying degrees (just like cis people do), it feels more comfortable to me than any other alternative, but if you ask me what's more important to me than anything, it's my body. It's my bone structure, my muscles, my shape, my facial/body hair, my voice, my genitals, my size, it's what I see when I look in the mirror and how I sound.
However, not all trans women feel the same way. For some, gender is more important than body stuff (gender being social behavior like makeup, clothes, hairstyle, getting social gender affirmation, speaking in more passive language, and mannerisms.) And, some people have just body dysphoria, and the gender stuff doesn't really matter to them all that much, but they still identify as a woman. Then there's non-binary people, people who don't identify as one of the binary genders. I'm not sure if genderfluid people typically consider themselves non-binary, but they are people who kind of bounce around in their gender expressions based on how they feel. And someone can be physically transitioning and be non-binary, because it seems gender/sex dysphoria have those two main components to it, the gender one and the sex one (I'm using that word to represent bodily sex characteristics.) And the balance of those components vary from individual to individual. The identity stuff is harder to understand, because it's not always so clear where sex identity ends and gender identity begins. Okay, I'm tired of explaining things, that's all you get for now. As far as your niece goes, all you have to do is give her some space to figure it out, it's a process, and not an easy one. It really sucks being evaluated all the time.
Disclaimer: This is my understanding of things, not all trans people agree with what I've said here, some have different views of things.

I think that implies I would've ever needed to transition to do that.

My teen years were very dark, my mental state got considerably worse after I had begun puberty. I don't want to go into detail.
So the difference between gender and sex can be confusing, I want to validate that it's hard to fully understand, and it doesn't help that a lot of trans people are uncomfortable talking about this individually because we're so on guard from people using some variation we have as ammunition to invalidate us. I'll start off using myself as an example: I expressed very feminine early on in my exploration, which is very common for trans women. I was trying to be recognized as the gender I identified with despite not having as much time to physically transition yet, and people were more likely to recognize what I was going for when I was hyper-feminine. Trans women (or men) can vary in their gender expression just as much as cis people do, and if you take me for example, I still dress casually feminine a lot of the time, but as I've grown more comfortable with my body, I've started to dress a little more "dykey," and I would dress that way more if it didn't lead to me being misgendered sometimes. When I think about my situation, I identify as a woman, and will want to embody that socially and aesthetically to varying degrees (just like cis people do), it feels more comfortable to me than any other alternative, but if you ask me what's more important to me than anything, it's my body. It's my bone structure, my muscles, my shape, my facial/body hair, my voice, my genitals, my size, it's what I see when I look in the mirror and how I sound.
However, not all trans women feel the same way. For some, gender is more important than body stuff (gender being social behavior like makeup, clothes, hairstyle, getting social gender affirmation, speaking in more passive language, and mannerisms.) And, some people have just body dysphoria, and the gender stuff doesn't really matter to them all that much, but they still identify as a woman. Then there's non-binary people, people who don't identify as one of the binary genders. I'm not sure if genderfluid people typically consider themselves non-binary, but they are people who kind of bounce around in their gender expressions based on how they feel. And someone can be physically transitioning and be non-binary, because it seems gender/sex dysphoria have those two main components to it, the gender one and the sex one (I'm using that word to represent bodily sex characteristics.) And the balance of those components vary from individual to individual. The identity stuff is harder to understand, because it's not always so clear where sex identity ends and gender identity begins. Okay, I'm tired of explaining things, that's all you get for now. As far as your niece goes, all you have to do is give her some space to figure it out, it's a process, and not an easy one. It really sucks being evaluated all the time.
Disclaimer: This is my understanding of things, not all trans people agree with what I've said here, some have different views of things.

AND, thank you for this thread. I admire your courage and am so grateful for your insight.

My teen years were very dark, my mental state got considerably worse after I had begun puberty. I don't want to go into detail.
So the difference between gender and sex can be confusing, I want to validate that it's hard to fully understand, and it doesn't help that a lot of trans people are uncomfortable talking about this individually because we're so on guard from people using some variation we have as ammunition to invalidate us. I'll start off using myself as an example: I expressed very feminine early on in my exploration, which is very common for trans women. I was trying to be recognized as the gender I identified with despite not having as much time to physically transition yet, and people were more likely to recognize what I was going for when I was hyper-feminine. Trans women (or men) can vary in their gender expression just as much as cis people do, and if you take me for example, I still dress casually feminine a lot of the time, but as I've grown more comfortable with my body, I've started to dress a little more "dykey," and I would dress that way more if it didn't lead to me being misgendered sometimes. When I think about my situation, I identify as a woman, and will want to embody that socially and aesthetically to varying degrees (just like cis people do), it feels more comfortable to me than any other alternative, but if you ask me what's more important to me than anything, it's my body. It's my bone structure, my muscles, my shape, my facial/body hair, my voice, my genitals, my size, it's what I see when I look in the mirror and how I sound.
However, not all trans women feel the same way. For some, gender is more important than body stuff (gender being social behavior like makeup, clothes, hairstyle, getting social gender affirmation, speaking in more passive language, and mannerisms.) And, some people have just body dysphoria, and the gender stuff doesn't really matter to them all that much, but they still identify as a woman. Then there's non-binary people, people who don't identify as one of the binary genders. I'm not sure if genderfluid people typically consider themselves non-binary, but they are people who kind of bounce around in their gender expressions based on how they feel. And someone can be physically transitioning and be non-binary, because it seems gender/sex dysphoria have those two main components to it, the gender one and the sex one (I'm using that word to represent bodily sex characteristics.) And the balance of those components vary from individual to individual. The identity stuff is harder to understand, because it's not always so clear where sex identity ends and gender identity begins. Okay, I'm tired of explaining things, that's all you get for now. As far as your niece goes, all you have to do is give her some space to figure it out, it's a process, and not an easy one. It really sucks being evaluated all the time.
Disclaimer: This is my understanding of things, not all trans people agree with what I've said here, some have different views of things.

Yeah, I'm into women, cis and trans. I don't think it will change. 
I met her after actually. She's absolutely fine with my transition.

My teen years were very dark, my mental state got considerably worse after I had begun puberty. I don't want to go into detail.
So the difference between gender and sex can be confusing, I want to validate that it's hard to fully understand, and it doesn't help that a lot of trans people are uncomfortable talking about this individually because we're so on guard from people using some variation we have as ammunition to invalidate us. I'll start off using myself as an example: I expressed very feminine early on in my exploration, which is very common for trans women. I was trying to be recognized as the gender I identified with despite not having as much time to physically transition yet, and people were more likely to recognize what I was going for when I was hyper-feminine. Trans women (or men) can vary in their gender expression just as much as cis people do, and if you take me for example, I still dress casually feminine a lot of the time, but as I've grown more comfortable with my body, I've started to dress a little more "dykey," and I would dress that way more if it didn't lead to me being misgendered sometimes. When I think about my situation, I identify as a woman, and will want to embody that socially and aesthetically to varying degrees (just like cis people do), it feels more comfortable to me than any other alternative, but if you ask me what's more important to me than anything, it's my body. It's my bone structure, my muscles, my shape, my facial/body hair, my voice, my genitals, my size, it's what I see when I look in the mirror and how I sound.
However, not all trans women feel the same way. For some, gender is more important than body stuff (gender being social behavior like makeup, clothes, hairstyle, getting social gender affirmation, speaking in more passive language, and mannerisms.) And, some people have just body dysphoria, and the gender stuff doesn't really matter to them all that much, but they still identify as a woman. Then there's non-binary people, people who don't identify as one of the binary genders. I'm not sure if genderfluid people typically consider themselves non-binary, but they are people who kind of bounce around in their gender expressions based on how they feel. And someone can be physically transitioning and be non-binary, because it seems gender/sex dysphoria have those two main components to it, the gender one and the sex one (I'm using that word to represent bodily sex characteristics.) And the balance of those components vary from individual to individual. The identity stuff is harder to understand, because it's not always so clear where sex identity ends and gender identity begins. Okay, I'm tired of explaining things, that's all you get for now. As far as your niece goes, all you have to do is give her some space to figure it out, it's a process, and not an easy one. It really sucks being evaluated all the time.
Disclaimer: This is my understanding of things, not all trans people agree with what I've said here, some have different views of things.

I've heard different things about what the body facts and performance facts are, so I don't know how unfair it is. Do I care? Meh, not really sure I do. I just don't feel like sports are very fair, if you're going to break it down to physical/athleticism like that. Look at Shaq in his athletic prime, no one could compare to him in terms of physical ability, similar to LeBron in his prime. So much about an athlete is out of their control and has nothing to do with anything other than luck of birth. I do get that it might have the potential to really mess with competitive balance, I honestly don't know and wouldn't even know where to start in order to break it down.
Pretty darn confident. I think anyone choosing the option of major surgery fear maybe regretting it when it's all said and done. Some are disappointed in their results, but that doesn't seem to be the norm by any means. 
Most likely. I think any population of people that fear prejudice from society will almost always be undercounted.

All excellent questions.
1.) I didn't realize until later. I was 29 when I first started questioning, went through a pretty bad phase of denial, I wouldn't stop thinking about all the changes I could get physically and mentally, then I started remembering all the things I did that were clear signs over the course of my life. I felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. 
2.) I was just about 32 when I came out.
3.) I was 31 when I started hormones, it all happened very fast. .
4.) Hormones have been relatively easy for me. Felt right from the very beginning and has only served me well since. It's been a lot easier for me to get my emotions out and not bottle them up, I cry easier. I get more mood swings though, and it's harder to keep off weight. My sex drive has plummeted, but I don't miss it.
5.) No, I didn't lose any family. I don't really have much close family outside my immediate family. My mom was very confused at first but now she's very supportive, my sister has seemed fine with it (she doesn't open up about stuff), my brother was extremely supportive, and my dad was really disappointed and he said some really hurtful things but he's come a long way since and we're amicable around each other now. He supports me in his own way. I didn't have many friends, but my one main friend from high school seemed fine about it but he avoids talking about it. 
6.) She/her/hers
7.) I'm with a woman, but we're not married. 
8.) Well sometimes there isn't a big difference between men's clothes and women's clothes, but ultimately yeah, I present as a woman full time. In the first few months of going full time, I dressed as a man twice: Once for the benefit of my dad, and second when I went to a swimming pool at the gym, and that was a mistake. There was a thing several months ago where I was feeling very dysphoric and self-hatey and I was trying to convince my gf I looked like a man, so I dressed in the most masculine clothes I had and needless to say, she wasn't convinced.

I think that implies I would've ever needed to transition to do that.

Hey all, I'm probably being dumb by revealing this, but I don't know any of you in real life, so what the hell. I'm transgender, and I've gotten the impression from this board that maybe the folk here don't actually know all that much about transgender people. So if anyone cares at all, I'll be here to answer questions you have that I feel are made in good faith. And any ribbing that I feel is good natured is fine too, but I'll be ignoring everything else entirely.

Yeah, I'm into women, cis and trans. I don't think it will change. 
I met her after actually. She's absolutely fine with my transition.

Awesome. I applaud your courage and uniqueness. 

I think that implies I would've ever needed to transition to do that.

Can't trust the pigs.

Thanks for the very detailed responses.  

All excellent questions.
1.) I didn't realize until later. I was 29 when I first started questioning, went through a pretty bad phase of denial, I wouldn't stop thinking about all the changes I could get physically and mentally, then I started remembering all the things I did that were clear signs over the course of my life. I felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. 
2.) I was just about 32 when I came out.
3.) I was 31 when I started hormones, it all happened very fast. .
4.) Hormones have been relatively easy for me. Felt right from the very beginning and has only served me well since. It's been a lot easier for me to get my emotions out and not bottle them up, I cry easier. I get more mood swings though, and it's harder to keep off weight. My sex drive has plummeted, but I don't miss it.
5.) No, I didn't lose any family. I don't really have much close family outside my immediate family. My mom was very confused at first but now she's very supportive, my sister has seemed fine with it (she doesn't open up about stuff), my brother was extremely supportive, and my dad was really disappointed and he said some really hurtful things but he's come a long way since and we're amicable around each other now. He supports me in his own way. I didn't have many friends, but my one main friend from high school seemed fine about it but he avoids talking about it. 
6.) She/her/hers
7.) I'm with a woman, but we're not married. 
8.) Well sometimes there isn't a big difference between men's clothes and women's clothes, but ultimately yeah, I present as a woman full time. In the first few months of going full time, I dressed as a man twice: Once for the benefit of my dad, and second when I went to a swimming pool at the gym, and that was a mistake. There was a thing several months ago where I was feeling very dysphoric and self-hatey and I was trying to convince my gf I looked like a man, so I dressed in the most masculine clothes I had and needless to say, she wasn't convinced.

How old were you when you knew you were born the wrong sex?  
How old were you when you told your family?
How old were you when you started taking hormone therapy?
How difficult was it going through the change and the hormones?
Did you lose any friends or family over the change?
What pronoun do you prefer?
Are you dating a man or a woman?  Or are you married?  
As a transgender woman do you dress as a woman all the time?