Yesterday I had called together an important meeting with officials from both neigbouring cities, among them many old friends of mine but also new acquaintances. I had to play more or less the main role in the meeting and I wondered how people see me. Only one of the old friends was a bit surprised when shaking hands with me, but even she got quickly over it. She had not seen me since years.
I imagined myself among the people looking at my performance from outside. And I must say, if I were one of them, it would have been difficult for me to see a person who looks, acts and sounds like a woman, as something else...even if I knew the history of the person. And probably it really is like that. People are very sensitive in feeling if someone is genuine or a fake.
Among the new people there was a gentleman and a lady from Vantaa, with whom I had a nice chat after the meeting, and those people, I could see, had no idea about my past.

Laura

Probably your classification is right Sandra.

Those who haven´t seen the transitioned person since years see clearly the difference, if they recognize the person in the first place. For them it is a NEW PERSON. For those who have been constantly next to the transition can BEND the former image for a long time, because the changes are so slow. And family members have a long common past with the person plus a picture coloured by their feelings about the person. It is very difficult among other things to admit that they had no hints about this, so did they actually know the person at all? Feelings like "I have been cheated for years" can come out.

Laura