Sheela

I live in Ontario, Canada, in a semi-rural area.

I grew up in the land of hockey, fighting and over-drinking. I didn't participate in the first, avoided the second, and threw myself fully into the 3rd (at times ;-).

I identify as female and have been living full time that way since January 2012. I've been on estrogen replacement for 14 months, and my transition is going very well, I feel. I came to recognize myself as transsexual in my early 30's, and made an attempt to get some support then. My MD was useless, and maybe that was a good thing since the outcome of him actually supporting me would have been to refer me to perhaps one of the most backward gender clinics in the western world.

I was married then, and my drift toward my female identity was the final straw in that relationship. I became a single parent of a young daughter for awhile, and then made a "smart" move, married a woman who was right against my female expression and did all she could to ensure it wasn't expressed.

After 3 rounds of clinical depression that began soon after marriage, I became determined to sort out what my problem was. Eventually, over years, I discovered my problem was my lack of true gender expression.

I began the quest to let my true self express (damn the torpedoes!) about 2 years ago, and soon after obtained a GID diagnosis. I started oestrogen asap, since the Canadian medical system is still as useless as it was in my 30s. Now I'm in my 50s, I've had had FFS and life feels right.

My spouse who was totally against my female expression is still with me, and loves me more than ever.