Tuesday, June 13, 2006

"I'm gonna get a vagina soon!"

yesterday i met a client of guy's company who is a "person in transition." this is a person who is going through all the processes necessary to change their sex: therapy up the yang, hormones and genital surgery. this client is transitioning from a man to a woman. i have seen her a few times, but just briefly, out the car window, waiting for guy as he dashes into a warehouse and back out, but yesterday we spoke. she looked at me with purpose, through the back of the car as she loaded tubing. i smiled brightly and said "Hi!" and introduced myself. she did the same and looked deeply at me, a prolonged look, she searched for intolerance, some kind of flinch in my face indicating a negative reaction to a person who was quite obviously once a man and yet looks somewhat like a woman. she is a person who projects a strong feminine sense, yet sports strong male facial features. i could feel her vulnerability, her timidity and her strength all at once. she searched me for quite some time and she could have continued searching me without ever seeing any kind of judgement cross my face.

i admire those who have such conviction to fix a problem of this magnitude. i can't imagine not being supportive. what must it feel like to be stuck in the wrong gender?

as we pull away from the warehouse i tell guy that i've just met who he calls "my person in transition" and he starts singing a song in his OCD voice, "i'm gonna get a vagina soooooon. i'm gonna get a vagiiiiina sooon!!! i'm gonna get a vagiiiina!" i crack up and stroke the back of his neck, adoring his childlike outlook as he sings some more, "i'm gonna get a vagiiina! i'm gonna get a vagina soooon!"

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