During the years my wife and I took care of my mom, we rarely got a vacation. Even when we did get one, many times it was just three or four days in a cabin in the mountains. At the end of the month, we are heading for Fort Lauderdale for some fun times at Southern Comfort Transgender Conference. I attended SC in 1997 and 1998 through 2002, I was a staff member of the conference when it was still held in Atlanta. At that time, I facilitated, with a trans man, the Big Brother/Big Sister program which paired newcomers to the conference with experienced conference attendees. In some cases, it was actually the first time out in public for some of the newcomers which was my situation in 1997. There wasn't a program in 97 and it took me something like 2 hours and 5 attempts to even open the door and go down to register. At the end of the conference there was a meeting for those who wanted to volunteer which I did. A couple of months after that, I was asked by the conference chairperson to start the program which we originally were only aiming at trans women but then we added it for trans men also.
Now, I'm going back to the conference as a trans woman beginning her transition rather than the part time person I was back then. I'm so looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new people like Sarah McBride who spoke at the DNC this year. It's going to be an amazing week!
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