Over the last couple of weeks I have through both my work and the house build come into contact with lots of new people. For some the whole concept of a female Handy person takes a little getting to grips with but through explaining even a small part of my story all of them have had similar reactions. The first reaction is usually a “oh wow, what a story” and the more I tell them the more “oh wows” I get. Many seem surprised how open I am and how willing I am the reveal my transgender status for some reason, I am very proud of what I’ve done, what I’ve achieved and who I am and it’s as simple as that. I also love telling my story to new people, I love to watch their reactions especially when I get to the difficult part of it when I learn that I was born intersex and modified at birth, a small matter that my parents opted not to share with me at any point. There are often tears and I am regularly asked if I’m happy now, I think the answer to that is pretty obvious but I always reiterate it with a huge smile on my face.
Much of my work at the moment is coming from one of the realestate offices in town. It started a bit by accident when I was asked to do some repairs for a very good friend of mine who has his house managed by them. I wasn’t overly impressed at the start as getting hold of one of the tenants seemed like very hard work indeed but as I have now got to know the system a little better and the the girls who run it very professionally the work is coming in thick and fast so long may it continue.
The house at Nannup is coming on as well, there’s lots still to do but at least things are happening. It’s nice to see the kitchen taking shape and the bathrooms and wet areas will hopefully be tiled within the next few weeks. We would love to spend even part of Christmas there as it will be magical so it’s all hands on deck to get it to a position where we can spend time there. I have gone to a great deal of hard work getting the block to a standard where if the worst happens and there is a bush fire then hopefully the fire will go either side of the block and the house will remain unaffected, well that’s the plan anyway.