Ok so I found this 30 day trans challenge questionnaire so each week i'll post one of the questions and we can have a discussion around the question.

1) When did you realize the term transgender referred to you?

My answer is it really took me a long time to realize the term referred to me. First I tried hard to conform, but damn that was hard. Next I thought alright maybe I’m just a very masculine lesbian and tried that out for a little bit. Problem was is I still felt different. I knew something was off about myself and I started to do some research and then I learned about F2M's and I was shocked to realize this sounds just like me. At the time I was about 18 and I was in the military, so I was unable to show my true self. Once I got out I went to school and didn't have financial means and felt a house was more important. My gf knew how much the change would mean to me and helped me see my happiness was more important and we could save for the house after I reach my transition goals. Thanks to her and all the support I have I've began my process a little over seven months ago. Now I'm taking hormones and planning on getting top surgery soon.

That’s kind of when I came to the realization myself. When I came out to everyone my mom’s reaction was a bit interesting because I myself thought I was strange to have taken so long to realize my true self. When I told my mom she said, "Hmm, well I guess that makes a lot of sense. I was shocked and asked her how. She said well when you were three you started to freak out whenever we tried to dress you in anything fem or referred to you using any fem pronouns. For actually showing signs of being transgender I was 3.