"don't worry you got the gay version"
-- Noelle Stevenson

This is the story of a year that I began as an aimless 34-year-old, perceived by everyone including myself to be a guy, and ended as a 35-year-old woman with purpose and love in my life.

I originally told my story on Twitter, describing what happened for me a year earlier in real time. It seems the story resonated with a lot of people, and now I'm putting it in a form that you don't have to be a Twitter expert to follow.

Cis people seem to encourage trans people to write sad transition stories, because it reminds them why to care. But trans people need trans people to write happy transition stories, to show them what is possible.

My story has the happinesses and sadnesses that a year in anyone's life would have, plus, you know, one powerfully happy thing that I accomplish that year. And that's why I think the story needs to be told; because there are enough sad transition stories out there, real and fictional, but being trans doesn't have to be like that. It can just be a wonderful, affirming, important discovery.

• 1. a dam breaks
• 2. a wrong turn
• 3. I don't even know her name
• 4. a helpful hint
• 5. a picture of myself
• 6. staring at the ceiling