[Kara]

Thanks for your input Jim and Dianne,

I have made it a practice to tell people about my "secret" from the very start of meeting someone new. I always felt it would hurt less to have someone run away screaming early on rather than later on after I have fallen head over heals for them. This train of thought comes from my personal experience of having my long term spouse leave me after the discovery of my intersex condition.

After talking to a very wise woman from my church who has adopted me as her grandchild, I have decided to wait a little while before telling. I want dates to get to know me for the person I am before talking to them about something they will most likely be clueless about. I want to try to eliminate any wierd ideas they may develop if I tell them before they get to know the real me. I will drop little clues about my personality along the way, you know...things about me that aren't quite standard for the gender I'm portraying. I'll let that be my test to see if they will tuck tail and run or stick around because they are fascinated by my uniqueness. By the way, I will have my first date in over a year next week. I'll get to see how this new approach works.

Kara