I got to go to a gathering of trans people, it was fun! Kinda like a picnic potluck kinda deal. Some of em drove from very far away, always nice when online trans femmes are able to go out in person. I know it can be hard and scary nevermind the lack of money or cars, but enough people had cars and close enough trust to go out of their way and fetch people (or they were on the way) and the reciprocal trust of "okay Ill get in a car with you for at least 4 hours to a meeting of relative strangers" was also nice. There was a nice mix of fresh out of the closet, freshly cracked, a few years in, and wayyyyy past that. Also a nice mix of ages from I think 18 to mid 50s!
Going with my irl trans friends and realizing "oh shit we're the trans elders, now" was weird. I never really thought about what it would mean to be like 7 years in or 10 years in or even 20 years in, my proverbial horizon had been so much shorter for so long.
I really liked my new name, I looked through a bunch and their meanings and I picked the one I resonated with most! After I picked it, years after, my mom said it was the name she wouldve given me if Id been AFAB so that was nice kismet