Wednesday night dinner with friends at Thai Bloom

It is the second Wednesday of November and our group is doing dinner at Thai Bloom in Portland and I am looking forward to it. Now I will admit I am not a big fan of Thai food but they do have some things on the menu that is really good and I like. We do a lot of dinners and yes my taste goes more to good old American food but really almost any restaurant we go to there is something I like and as I have said before it really is not about where we go to eat but spending time with my friends. I got home from work and started getting ready so I could enjoy my time doing my makeup and transforming myself to Susan. Now I cannot explain why I love doing my makeup other then I just do, it makes me feel good, relaxed and happy. I was all dressed and ready to go by 6:15pm. I walked out to my car and was on my way.

I got downtown Portland about 6:40 and turned onto the street where Thai Bloom 2 blocks away and there were 2 parking spots right on the corner so I took one, the funny thing is in the 1 1/2 blocks I walked to the restaurant there were 3 more spots. I got there and Jennifer and Claire were already there. By 7pm the others showed up, tonight there were 6 of us which really is the perfect size for conversation as everyone can be involved in the same conversation. From left to right was Trish, Barb, Claire, Joan, Jennifer and me. Our waitress came and took our drink order and she was awesome. We talked a little and then we ordered dinner, I got the Broccoli and beef with rice which is really good.

These dinners out are just so much fun as I really love socializing with my friends. As my male self I tend to keep to myself but as Susan I really like to be out with people or just around people. Probably why I like going to Starbucks as Susan. We did talk a little abut last weeks dinner as Jennifer missed it and she was interested in how Trish’s wife did with meeting her in person for the first time and also meeting the group. Well Trish told us her wife was fine with it and is actually giving her tips on her outfits, how awesome is that. Now I can understand how hard this would be especially meeting the group as well and in a public place. It makes me think back 14 years ago when Cassandra came out to her wife. She did it in a letter over Thanksgiving weekend and her wife came out with her the following Friday night to meet the group. We are all happy things are going well for her.

Being transgender does make things harder in some ways. I am single, I came close to getting married once. now early on I had convinced myself if I found the right woman I would stop this and it would go away and yes when I was dating a woman I would stop but when we broke up I always went back to my dressing. Over the last few years I have come to the realization that this will never go away as it is part of who I am just like an arm or leg. Now for me the problem is I still keep my 2 sides separate, now I don’t mean I am hiding it like I use to do. I figure if people find out they do, I mean I come and go from my house as Susan without even thinking about it anymore and even though other then my one neighbor no one has ever said anything I am sure they all know. For me I am just not promoting it in other words I am not going to my neighbors, friend or co-workers and telling them. My view on this and my view only is my life is really no ones business and if it doesn’t involve them then why tell them. my friends who don’t like golf I don’t talk golf with, or the ones who don’t like guns I don’t talk about guns and shooting. If I don’t plan on being Susan at work or at a friends house then why tell them. but that being said if you are dating someone or married I really think you do need to tell them as it directly affects them. Again just my thought and that and $5 will get you a drink at Starbucks.

Our food came and it was really good, we had a nice dinner and great conversation. After dinner we sat and talked for a while and talked about next week’s dinner, I think we are going to do Swagat Indian restaurant. Our waitress brought our bills and had them all separated out and actually told us there was an 18% tip on them but we were free to leave more if we liked which I loved. Now I always give more than 18% unless our service is just horrible but almost never do they tell you the tip is on the bill and if you don’t notice you may double tip. Any way she got a good tip as she was really good and I liked she told us.

It was after 9pm when we left. It is always sad to see the evening come to an end. Claire’s wife dropped her off so I gave her a ride home as it really is pretty much on my way plus it gave us a chance to talk some more. It was about 10pm when I got home and washed away Susan for the night. now I am looking forward to a little Susan time on the weekend.

Thanks for reading my blog and sharing this part of my life with me.