Oy! People!
Thanks.
I... really, I don't know what to say. Really.
I know I don't sound off often on my opinion of the forum. I figure my presence here is proof enough of what you all mean to me. And you mean so much.
I came here, just over a year ago, in a very roundabout way. I'd been on the internet before, but it was all related to school; I'd never surfed that much (yeah, yeah, I know... and Bill Clinton never inhaled
). It was just last fall that I got myself on the net with the express purpose of... well, of just meeting people. As it turns out, I was eager to meet people like myself, more than anything else. It took me a while to figure that out. But, when I did, I soon found that there were many sites that dealt with crossdressing. After belonging to a Yahoo group for a while, a group that I tried my hardest to get moving (it only got 10-15 posts a week); after a while, I went hunting and landed on the CDDF, of which I became a member. It didn't take me too long to figure out it wasn't the place for me. Still, it's my original (but not my "first") home. I still go, occasionally, just to say Hi! or read this or that post and, once in a blue moon, I post. Well, one day, someone mentioned
this forum and provided a link (I think it might've been our own Beauty, actually). I came here and I fell in love with the place almost instantly. The people were friendly and warm and inviting. And they still are. Beauty, especially, was super helpful when I had a bit of trouble making sense of the forum's structure or when I needed a question answered. I found the topics
spoke to me; these were things I, myself, had gone (or was still going) through. It felt like home. I think I lurked here all of three days, before I wrote my first post. And post, I have! (I'm still surprised nobody's ever sent me a PM yet asking me to, please, for God's sake, just shut up already!
...not that I would, if anyone did, mind you!
). Call it enthusiasm. It'll die down, I'm sure, after my 10,000th post.
You've changed my life in ways I never expected. Although I was already fairly comfortable with myself, there was something missing. That "something" was a sense of community, a sense that I belonged somewhere, you know? ("You know?" What am I saying? Of
course, you know!) I'm very much--and have always been--an explorer of my own inner realms, from a very young age. I was fortunate to have parents who encouraged that in us. But, socially? Being with others? Finding my own place in a world full of people? There, I was a washout. I'm basically a somewhat shy, withdrawn, person. I'm not pathologically timid--far from it!; I'm just someone very much at ease in my own company who's yet very sociable (though, again, not social). Well, the forum--and when I say "the forum," I mean
you, all of you with whom I've had exchanges, both CD's and SO's alike--the forum, I say, has changed me. I've gained a much greater appreciation for my own place in the world, for my own worth as a human being. I learned that the struggles I went through had been, and were, and will be, repeated a thousand times throughout the land, both here and abroad. Intellectually, I knew I wasn't alone. Still, I felt like a total alien, socially. You changed that. And, for that, I'll always be grateful and I'll always have you in my thoughts.
In no particular order: Beauty, Love, Elizabeth, Virginia, Lorna, Sharon, Kersten, Terri, Kathy, Amelie, Eloïse, Darlene, Lefty, Jadeanne, Gee, Kay, Merinda, Kristen, Donna, Alexandra, Gaby, Danielle, Jamie Ann, Sally, Tea-Cake, Shannon, Anita, Curly, and countless others... your names, your thoughts, your personalities, your joys, your fears, your successes and struggles, are written in my soul. All I can say, for this gift of yourselves, is: thank you. It's a gift not only to me, but to all who come here looking for who they are.
Now, if you all want to join me, I invite you all to come on over to the neighbouring thread and show some love for Love, who's been flying a little low, lately.
I love you all!
CJ
Oh! Welcome, Little Miss M.
I think you'll like it, here.
talking to you made feel safe and supported. You took the time to respond to my initial fears. Your understanding and compassion for beginers issues made the difference. The world would be great if there were more people like you ! Now I am officially one of you 
