After my spouse told me she was transgender, we worked together exploring who Michelle is;  what does she like, what does want, and who does she want to be.

As time went by she began changing her body with help from medical professionals. I noticed physical transformations automatically (smaller arms, larger bottom) but there were also subtle things about her personality that changed. She began expressing a different sense of style by wearing bright colors with modern angles and voicing an appreciation for art (things she never seemed to care about while living as a man). Michelle also discovered the finer things in life like designer brands and late night room service (ah…bread pudding!).

And in the evening, she started cuddling more with our daughter, pulling our little girl on the couch next to her and nuzzling her hair:  taking in her sweet little girl scent, storing it in a memory. Around the house, I caught her looking at me out of the corner of my eye on a few occasions like she was noticing me for the first time. Not as a wife or a mother. Just me.

I love seeing these changes continue in her, like a metamorphosis. In childhood and into adolescents (from the stories I’ve heard), it seems her life was ruled by fear, constantly hiding behind a facade afraid to peek out. Now, being Michelle, she expresses herself freely, without worry or qualms. She left her cocoon and became a beautiful, fierce, and passionate woman.

I feel her love for me and our daughter more tenaciously than ever before. Watching her grow, evolve into her true self, I fell in love with her again for the first time.