Ben or Jen?

 Well..... This post may be painful to some of you reading. After great reflection and serious consideration I have decided to get my name and gender marker officially changed! I have been living authentically for the better part of a year in my day to day life as a woman now. And though the decision was not easy to officially change my name, it is defiantly the correct one for me. The thing that made it hard was sharing a name with my father and my son. Passing the name my father shared with me has always been something special to me. And I believe that names are important and meaningful. But after having a conversation with my son I am ready to pull the trigger. Being dead named by bank tellers, medical professionals  and so on, and pulling out my ID is still a painful reminder in my daily life that can still shatter my happiness.  I have also started using the women's bathroom publicly rather than only using the bathroom at home. So far I have only done it twice at a l...