When the above restaurant was split between two strip malls, as single slice pizza joint in one site, and a sit-down restaurant in the other site, I would always avoid going to the sit-down place when presenting as a female as I was a regular there in male mode. However, when they consolidated operations in this place, they stopped serving slices and became a more classy, but casual, sit-down restaurant. The old staff went on to establish and manage other places, leaving this place open for me to be a regular while presenting as a female.
I met my friend while working the 2020 census, and we both had stories to tell each other. No, I can't say that our stories were that exciting. But we saw each other as peers, people with whom conversation flowed freely. And we kept in contact after our terms at the census ended. Although I can't say we're close (we don't reveal the types of intimate secrets that most women share), we have shared things that we don't want certain people to know. Both of us will soon be doing some distance travel, me to take a cruise and my friend to go to a wedding. We'll have things to share when we get together next month.
But why is this important?
Although it is harder for many trans people of my age to make friends because of learned prejudice, it is not impossible. Many foreign born and younger people have fewer prejudices against us because, as I see it, they are also people trying to make their way in our American culture. Hopefully, other trans people will successfully find their ways, not giving up on things....
