Lyssa,

<<So I kind of fumbled my way through it...and am now in a LTR with a wonderful, sexy, woman who loves me as much as I love her.
Our relationship was just so unexpected...like a bolt from the blue. I am beyond lucky.>>

That's a wonderful thing and you are seriously lucky. Congrats! :-D


<<What was it like coming out as a dyke?>>

There's no one way it's "like" coming out as lesbian. Each coming out story is unique and impacted by many, many factors. You mention age and being MtF. While I share one of those (MtF...I came out a fair bit earlier, tho), I'm betting my own experience is very different from your own. After coming out as a woman, coming out as a lesbian was really not so hard...the hardest part for me was realizing that I was no longer bi. Transitioning lost me my taste for men...go figure!

But point being, sexuality was something that had already been questioned and explored by me pre-transition, so dealing with shifts in it post-transition was really easy for me after starting transition. That was much more intimidating to me.


<<Were you afraid? Overwhelmed? (I was!)>>

Well, having done so as I was leaving college, and having therefore only just "found myself", as it were, I can only imagine that there were a lot fewer built-in "resistances" and anxiety than coming out in one's late 30s, after having had to develop things like a career, possibly a wife & kids, and who knows what else. I was lucky getting to build my adult self pretty much from scratch having already started transition.


<<Has anyone here had a relationship experience like mine?>>

I think I've detailed the differences pretty well, but there are always some similarities...you're in a position which actually works for you in a way. You've already dropped an existential H-bomb on everyone who knows you by coming out as a woman, so letting people know you're into other women is going to come as a lot less of a shock. (Though some slight confusion, possibly, as most "normal" people still have a hard time decoupling sex, gender, and orientation in their heads. So they might ask you, stuff like, "So, wait. You became a woman...but you want to be with other women?!?" Just try to be patient with them and remind them that who you are and who you're romantically/sexually attracted to do have a damned thing to do with one another. ;-) )

And don't be afraid. Be confident...even when you don't feel it. The more confidence you radiate about your new self, your new relationship, your new LIFE, the more other people will respond positively, if they're worth bothering with.

'Sides...here you are, seeking the support of your sisters, so it seems to me you're doing just fine.