I want to hear about the "rock" in your transitional life. Someone who supported you and kept you sane during (or before/after) the process.

Mine is my ex fiance. We met when I was 21 and she was 19 through the girl I was dating. We didn't get along at first, probably fueled by the fact that the girl I was dating when we met was her ex girlfriend. One day we decided to try to start off on the right foot and we got along really well. One thing led to a few others (some sort of "dick moves" on my part.. not proud of it) and we started dating. At the time I was doing drag shows and MCing at a couple of bars, and I was very open about my male side, but hadn't decided to transition yet. She responded well to everything gender-related about me. In the beginning I felt like my gender was very fluid, some days were boy days, and some days were not. She was very perceptive and without me even saying anything knew when to call me by what name just by my mannerisms.

And all of that was before I'd ever decided to transition.

We split up about 2.5 years ago. Not because we didn't love each other, but because we'd tried everything and it still didn't work out. We're still very close. We talk almost every day. She's still the person I call when I'm upset and she never hesitates to drop everything to come running. I consider myself very blessed to have her in my life and couldn't have begun transition without her. She's the one that pretty much said, "honey, you need this. I know it; you know it."

I know not everyone is lucky enough to have one, especially in the beginning of our transitions, but maybe these stories will help those have hope for their "rock".