Here’s the thing just like all the stories and cliches say that I found someone when I wasn’t looking and had stopped looking.

I’m not going to sugar coat things but I’m a single guy and a long term bachelor and I have dated and I had never really wanted to settle down and do all that family stuff mostly because my family ranged from self destructive to petty so none of that really was an investment.

I moved out as soon as I could and went into the army and got a trade under me as an engineer and spent time basically fixing things on bases.

And getting out I turned being a veteran into a decent business as a handyman and contractor and made some money with some army buddies in buying and renting storage units.

So I had decent money and did alright and I had relationships and they were fine but I was getting older and the shine of hot and young things wore off.

Honestly I’ll look at a pretty young thing and they’re great in their niches.

But oh my god they’re not restful.

I met Ben at a party and we clicked right away he was a little younger than me but like a few years and he had been in the forces and he actually sold me a phone as he worked for an Best Buy and we sort of had the army thing and he became one of my drinking buddies and we’d all meet a a nice bar we all liked with decent pool tables downstairs and all the typical bar stuff like a stage and Karoke and it had decent food as well for a bar.

And Ben was a nice guy and a friend as much as the others were and I was completely sidelined when Ben came out as Trisha and was transitioning because she couldn’t handle it anymore.

And anyone my age and anyone that’s been desperate understands the look of Not being able to take it anymore.

And Trisha was my friend and it really didn’t affect my life then because honestly it didn't. It was her deal though I busted her chops a little on the name Trisha and her being Latina.

But I get she didn’t want the stereotypes either.

I’ll tell you this that once she got over her telling people and getting her papers and her meds and she started dressing full time that her mood shifted and it wasn’t just the backing from her mental and emotional ledge but she was just herself and happy.

Was she hot? Nope, not really.

She was overweight by some and had her own issues with food and sweets and all of that but you know she was still happier.

And she dressed in baggy and treating her more or less kindly kinds of women’s clothes just being herself and all of that stuff.

Then she really slowly and really hard started walking and biking and had an elliptical thingy and a stationary bike and she slowly dropped pounds and got her sugars under control as she ate like she cared about being here more. No diets and nothing fancy, just cutting out the really bad stuff that was giving her the good feelings rather than feeling just good about herself.

Because she was finally herself.

And she was actually a really nice person and funny in a whole different way and had a whole other section to her humour and personality that she showed me and others because she was finally herself.

And some in our circle left and got mad at something that didn’t affect them but we lived in a decent sized city and knew people and she knew people in her crowd that whole LGBT+ crew and I like them.

I really like some of them in our age group.

I want to hang out with people that’ll like sitting by a fire and having a few drinks and just talk, have a drink or two and just hang out.

And we were friends and getting closer and closer and was there when her dog died of old age and her mom the year after that of cancer and being in her eighties and all of that stuff and we’d been to funerals and things together of people we knew and we hung out a lot sometimes.

More in the Winter as I’m less busy on purpose with the contracting.

I knew her for three years before she decided to live and transition and then another three since then and I even went to Mexico with her as her friend and escort in case stuff happened and she sold her house and paid bills and settled her divorce from her Ex wife and she went to Mexico for surgeries and no not the big one, but she had lost weight and this was taking care of the excess and she got herself some implants and she went through hell in her laser and getting her face cleaned up and a lot of sessions that were hospital laser sessions where you’re not doing anything but heal afterwards.

I started actually liking her then.

Covered in bandages and using a tablet to talk or her phone because she had her nose done, and her face and her boobs and she had the skin issues and once she was cleared to go we spent two weeks down in real deal Mexico and she had only been to a few trips over the border growing up and we planned for three weeks since we could afford to rent the place we were in for that long and the house had housekeepers and a jeep we could borrow and use and we went together and seen stuff.

She was so heartwarming to see actually happy and exploring roots she had and notes she had in an actual scrapbook of places where her family came from on a few different places and no one lived in those places from her family any longer but we still go to go there and see the same towns and places and it was pretty damned easy for Trisha to simply be happy.

Content.

It really stuck with me and I’ll admit that after that, and after the healing and all the other stuff and she had been on hormones a good long while she looked.

Attractive.

Okay, not attractive in like the teen and college way but she turned into this woman, a real grown woman with some nice curves and she had her face cleared up a lot so she could now get away with basic makeup for things and she pretty much passed but she passed as a really basic looking middle aged hispanic woman.

She didn’t care about trendy or all the non stop work at being a hot person she was just really attractive by being simple, happy, and that girl that wears the Star Wars tee shirt and jeans and she likes beers and nice food and basic things and we had met at our bar and she ordered the nachos and a couple of pitchers and I had a draft first and then as she was having her’s I took her hand and took her out on the dance floor after making sure I put one of her favourite songs on and I danced with her to “Walking after midnight.” and we were slow dancing and she went with it looking pleasantly surprised and was having a nice dance when I said.

“I was thinking that we should maybe not just be friends but maybe we should start dating Trish.”

“Dating? Me? Why?”

“Because honestly I think I like you actually better than anyone else and that’s including all the women I’ve dated.”

“I’m trans.”

“You know I don’t care about that, you’re a nice, sweet, decent caring woman that I actually like. You know how rare me actually liking people is?”

“Like, like… as in romantically?”

I looked her in the eyes and she’s looking at me trying to decipher if I’m being serious or what and I very slowly and very up front give her a light but not in the least mistakable kiss on the lips.

“Trish would you please actually go out with me?”

She went pale in shock and then it hit and she super blushed like that full tilt blush and she couldn’t even talk and squeezed her eyes shut as she nodded.

“Yes….I…I think I’d actually like that.”

So now i’m picking her up for drinks and with a cab and we’re going to get a buzz on hit a few places we both like together as a couple for a change and then we’re going to go and see a movie together.