I spent last weekend at Capricon, in Chicago, with my girlfriend and whole family. It was a nice time together with the family I've been pulled into now that I'm dating an old friend, us having discovered some feelings for each other now that we've both transitioned. I've known her husband even longer. An all-trans polycule of people who've known each other for decades. Their kid has known me her whole life and has taken me as a bonus mom, something I'd never imagined possible. This was my first time at Capricon since 2020 at the very very end of the before times. It is so nice to have a girlfriend and family all COVID careful. We had our air filters running in the hotel room, all of us are always in respirators when among others. So nice to be able to be safely together in the room, and to eat together in the room in safety. Capricon was one of the most-masked groups of any size I've been in since the early days when anyone gave a shit. Still far less than even half but so nice to not be alone. It was also the queerest, trans-est gathering I've been to that's not specifically a queer event. The kind of place people were casually outing themselves. You know, like, "that was back before I was on T!" It's interesting now to be in a new phase of transition and to be at a con in a dress (and even my first corset!) as a woman and it's just ordinary, six years ago I was a bearded lady and the dresses got a lot more attention. It went shockingly well for me then, but I really like how things are for me now even better.