Transition Through a Shattered Crystal Snowglobe

Abstract

In this essay, the author reflects on her life and the impact that transitioning from male to female had on her marriage, her children, and her life. The piece examines the coming out process; the discovery by her wife (i.e., after an episode of cross-dressing); telling their children; the couple’s attempts to keep their marriage intact despite intrapersonal, interpersonal, and financial strain; and, ultimately, the process of first separation and then divorce. In addition to exploring the experience of transitioning, and the role of this transition in the author’s separation and divorce, the chapter also addresses how employment and financial stresses—incurred in large part because of trans-related discrimination—exacerbated existing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and familial stresses.