I have
never understood the desire some people have to be seen as normal,
because normality doesn't exist! We all have unique individual lives, and we all have different preferences and desires, so what exactly is
normal? The people who I have met throughout my life that do
everything they can to be seen as 'normal' are odd just for wanting
to be something they are not.
I love
the fact that we are all different, but some are a little more different than
others, though. I'm recently back from yet another jaunt to warmer
climes. This is becoming a habit that I don't want to stop. While
touring we tend to pick hotels that don't really cater for the
British as I can't be bothered to listen to the incessant moaning
about the very things that I go on holiday to find. Different
culture, food and people. But while we were on holiday I did come
across some characters that would not be out of place in my 'Twisted
Minds' series of books.
I had
noticed a family one evening while in a restaurant. There was a young
boy and a daddy and an extremely attractive mummy. She wore a short
skirt and had a perfect figure and was very good looking. But because
of my work I have counselled many people from many different walks of
life and with many different problems, and I could tell that Mummy
would have, at one time, been Daddy!
Once
you have worked with transgender people you learn to recognise
certain traits that they have, and Mummy had all these traits, even
though she was stunning to look at. But the Daddy of the group was
straight out of a seventies British comedy show. They were a German
family and the daddy dressed in a pseudo-sailor's outfit complete with
hat and wore a monocle. He did strike me as the type of man that may
attach electrodes to your nipples as you slept! But they seemed quite
happy as a group so what the hell? I did tell my wife that they lady
may not be all that she seemed but my wife just laughed and said, not
for the first time in our marriage, that I didn't know what I was
talking about. I was so sure that I said, “make a bet with me and name
your prize”. We often do this and the prizes are not really the
sort of thing that should be written up in a blog. Well my prizes
aren't!
We came
across this family quite a few times while we were out and about and
we always had the same "she is/she's not" discussion afterwards. We named
them "Mr & Mr" mainly because of our lack of imagination. I
constantly teased my wife about her forfeit when I proved her wrong
to which she always answered, “get your wallet ready for some
serious shopping.”
It
wasn't until the night before we were due to fly back home that the
bet was settled. We were entering a bar that was up a flight of very
steep steps. My wife had got halfway up the stairs when this lady
came walking down. I can't stress enough just how attractive this
lady was she was always well dressed and had a stunning figure. My
wife stood to one side and gestured to the lady to pass to which she
turned to my wife and in a deep husky voice said, “Danke” to
which my wife replied, “Oh shit!” The woman looked at my wife
perplexed at her remark, but I couldn't help but laugh.
Later
my wife said that she couldn't believe that that woman was a man to
which I replied, “She's not, she's a woman, admittedly with a deep
voice, but a woman none the less.”
There
are lots of different views about transgender - whether it is a real
trick of nature or whether it is a form of mental illness. The brains
of transgender people that have left their bodies to science do show
some differences but there hasn't been enough study to confirm that
there is a real difference. Also there are studies that show up to
sixty five percent of people that undergo corrective surgery regret
ever doing this, lots wanting to reverse the changes.
I think
that if people feel they need to change and it's the only way they
can feel complete then it should be an option that they have. It's a
very difficult decision for a person to make even though they
themselves may not think so. But for me, you only get one shot at life
so you should try to make it as happy as possible and if changing
your gender enables you to achieve this, then I don't see why not
after lots of counselling.
Well as
for my prize after winning the bet, I'm yet to receive it. If you knew
what it was, you may understand why. It is very strange, but I didn't
say that I was normal did I?
