Yeah, it’s always a very nervous experience to meet another person that you find online. Many times, it can start an experience that causes for reflection and self-discovery. And other times, you get some real freaks. But there are also the times when you find people who absolutely fascinate you. And I guess today’s meeting would identify more with the third statement. I met with an online friend that is, in fact, trans. And, finally for once, some one my age!
First off, I will not reveal her identity, simply due to the fact that she is my friend and I respect her right to privacy. We were originally planning to catch a bite to eat at the Tivoli Student Union, but wouldn’t you know it, everything in Tivoli is closed. I so did not know that everything would be closed on a Saturday. But alas, this is reality. So, I waited like 30 minutes for her to get here (I arrived 30 minutes early, what can I say?) and let me tell you, that is too much time for worry about another person to weigh in on you. The thoughts such as ‘is this person a chaser’ or ‘is this person going to kidnap me/sexually assault me/etc’ go on like a paranoid circus.
She finally arrived about 5 minutes or so after noon. She looked exactly like her pictures, so I did not have to worry about this being someone else. We hugged and we went to her car to go downtown and find someplace to eat. I had phoned Google’s 411 service and asked for pizza places. There was one that sounded like a sit-down restaurant on 1550 Broadway, but that turned out to be closed as we drived by. We drived around for a little bit to find a parking space and then got out and walked down the 16th Street Mall to the pizza place (I didn’t know this though, I thought we were just perusing the restaurants available).
When we walked by, we saw that the place was definitely closed. And definitely not a sit-down restaurant. So, we walked straight for 15th & California and we looked for somewhere else to eat. We thought about La Boheme on 15th & Stout, but we later saw that it was a gentleman’s club and taking my clothes off in front of a lot of strange men was NOT how I wanted to spend my lunch hour. So, we walked on and found this little cafe called “Leela’s European Cafe”. So, we walked in, sat down and grabbed a bite to eat.
And it was pretty nice. We didn’t have a pity party or something like that. It was just hanging out with another person in the same situation as me, without having it turn into a support group or a bitch session. Which is a nice contrast from the Gender Identity Centre of Colorado. We just sat, ate and talked. It was so sad that the other person that she invited was not able to be there, it would have been so much more fun! I showed her a bit of my tai-chi and I also showed her the ‘F’ on my ID, as well as the fact that I had my name legally changed.
So, all in all, it was a pretty good day. And to everyone out there in Internet land, have yourselves a happy 5th of July!
- Scanners for Disabled Students
- Printing Needed for Transitions to Work
- Brighten the Environment for Bright Students