Way-points

On a compass route, a "way-point" is an intermediate stop along the journey.  They're important because they prevent one from having to do the entire route in one compass reading.  It's next to impossible to walk a route precisely, and errors accumulate over distance.  Way-points allow you to navigate a short distance, perhaps to a distinctive rock or other prominent landmark, one that is visible even if you're a ways off.  In this way, you can re-orient yourself, erasing any error, and literally "toe the line" once again.

The transgendered life can be like that, sometimes.  We have way-points, intermediate achievements along the path.  Buying our first wig.  Taking a makeup lesson.  Sneaking out of a motel room in the dead of the night.  Just kidding.  But even that one, as furtive and unfulfilling as it may be, can also empower us to move along, and like a way-point, re-orient us on the path.


The thing is, for many of us, the end-point is a moving target.  A lot of the time, we start out thinking we're going one place, and end up heading somewhere else.  When I became old enough to know what crossdressing is, and that I was not alone -- a much later date than it would be nowadays -- I thought "Ok, you're just a 'garden-variety' crossdresser."  I envisioned the end-point of my journey to be able to dress with impunity, dance the night away, and resume my male existence the next day.

Problem is, now that I'm approaching that goal, I find that the end-point has changed on me, and that way-points I thought were on one route might turn out to be on another.  Now I find that what I want is to be comfortable in my female gender, to be able to just "be me" when I am Lizzy, and to not raise any eyebrows when I am.  And though I'm not there yet, I'm confident that I will get there, but I wonder.  When I do, will I discover that instead of being a destination, that that's a way-point too?