Hi y’all. Sherri here. I’m posting first simply because I’m the one publishing the blog and Sandra doesn’t know it’s up and running yet. Kind of like the person who bakes the cake gets to lick the icing off the mixer thingies.
Unless you’ve checked out the About This Blog page, it might not be clear what we’re up to, but I imagine it will become obvious pretty quickly. At least I think it will. To be honest, I’m not sure what direction(s) this thing will take; I’ve already considered and rejected a half-dozen topics that are probably best left for a separate blog (which I may undertake in the near future). It kind of surprises me that Sandra and I get along as well as we do — even though we do butt heads occasionally over ATGSG issues — since our situations and personalities are so different. Sandra is the organizer / spokesperson / office holder / optimist type, while I’m a bit more unstructured and maybe a tad more cynical, although I prefer to think of it as realistic. Sandra is happily heterosexual and married, while I am single and bi-sexual. Sandra hasn’t been “dressing” as long as I have, but she’s more “out” than I am. Sandra is intent upon providing a safe haven for timid TGs (think TriEss) and taking a more structured / counseling type of approach to recruiting new group members, while I am more interested in talking less about TG stuff and just getting gurls and guys out the door, making new friends and having a good time.
Which is what we manage to do, somehow — have a good time together. Our conversations are interesting and our evenings out on the town are always fun. But neither of us is satisfied with this endeavor being just about us. I think we both have an unspoken and modest sense that we are pioneers in a way, challenging social norms about gender, educating the uninitiated about TGs and, hopefully, paving the way here in our local community / region for other TGs who may currently be closeted but long for tolerance and acceptance and yearn for opportunities to safely express their gender identities. Through our own personal experiences, we think we can answer a lot of questions and provide a little help along the way for those of you who might be struggling with your gender or are ready to consider taking that first step out of the closet.
That’s not to say that we think we have all the answers, nor do we think we are the only ones with anything to offer. We know our group could benefit greatly from those of you who may be seasoned veterans but for one reason or another haven’t really plugged into a social network of some sort. And a few of you are vastly more experienced and knowledgeable than us, and are way more out than us, and your experience would benefit the rest of us immensely. We are striving to show up on your radar and earnestly hope you will join our ranks, formally or informally, at your earliest opportunity.
Also, we hope to attract some diversity to our little group. Sandra and I are both middle-aged, anglo, MTF TGs — crossdressers, transvestites, whatever you call us (Sandra insists that “TG” is the more appropriate term, for several reasons we will no doubt discuss later on, and I think she’s right). We know there are FTM TGs out there and we really want to interact with you if you’ll just give us a buzz. And you significant others (SOs) — wives, girlfriends, boyfriends — we want and need your participation as well.
Okay, I hope that’s sufficient introduction to the blog and our group, at least on my part. Hopefully, Sandra will flesh out more info on the Amarillo Transgender Support Group in the near future, and then we can move on to more entertaining stuff. We welcome your comments and participation, so don’t leave without leaving us a note.
xoxo,
Sherri
