Another small step…

You may recall that I’ve had problems keeping my large toe nails in one piece, and have been using help from my nail tech to patch them with acrylic.  In addition, she keeps them painted white (it was Wifey’s choice of color – I’d have preferred teal or better yet, a nice feminine red) to disguise the repairs. 

During our recent visit to see our son and family, somehow the repair got cracked.  Might have something to do with the old work boots I wore for a recreational hike we took.  A dark line (the crack again) appeared through the polish, which alerted me to the issue.   After arriving home, I scheduled a visit to the nail salon for the earliest possible date, to have all 20 nails worked on.  

This visit (with me in capris, turtleneck blouse and sandals) was uneventful.  No other customers – no interesting “girl talk at the pedicure chair” this time!   Guess all the other girls in the area have had their fall pedis already.   And the nail tech was quiet, as well.  Wonder why the whole place was silent?   But with all the quiet, I got a chance to grab a quick pedi pic – unfortunately this was not one of their better patch jobs.  But it will get refinished next time!

Several days later was my appointment with the eye doctor – across the bridge (again), toward Baltimore.  In my first attempt at getting dressed, I put on a turtleneck tunic, stirrup pants with pantyhose and ballet flats.   Wifey reminded me that the temperature was still in the 50’s.  She handed me a new outfit – “something a bit more contemporary”: my light gray capris, one of Mom’s black blouses, and my new sandals (off came the pantyhose – bare legs, of course).  “There, that looks much better.  With that outfit, you’ll be right in style. Just don’t forget a necklace and bracelet.”   So, I grabbed my one of each, plus my car keys and purse, and headed west, across the bridge…

Given my feminine appearance, I actually debated changing into my denim dress for the office visit, under cover of it being so close to Halloween.  The staff knows me as “Mr.” and I didn’t want to cause any issues, so “no dress.”  But unbenownst to me, the seed for discussion of that issue had already been planted, and today was the day for it to sprout.

After my exam and some small talk, the doctor said staff had requested clarification of how they should address me. So we discussed approaches to this, including possibly omitting any gender-specific greeting and go with my “now female” given name, perhaps preceded by “Ms.” to minimize any customer awkwardness over my appearance.   She will talk to them about it.

And the doctor (who’s “on our side”) volunteered that she has a relative whose 6 year old son loves pink, wears dresses (including to school), and identifies as female, even at that young age. I’ve read about those situations on-line, but this was my first contact with anyone actually in that situation. And there I sat, entirely dressed in a feminine outfit, including jewelry…needless to say, I forgot to mention at least some of the discussion when I got home.

Wifey was quite right in revising my outfit – a number of other girls were wearing capris and pretty blouses, with sandals. When I got home I told her “Thanks for making me change clothes, dear.  It’s a cute combo, and I certainly wasn’t the only one dressed this nicely.”  “I didn’t figure you would be, sweetie. You and the other girls will likely be wearing these outfits a lot in November. There’ll be plenty of time later for leggings, turtlenecks, pantyhose and ballet flats.”  

Not such a bad thing, is it?

Mandy