the danish girl, savannah's version

The Celebration of the Life of EmBee-Marie McDaniel was held this morning, after several weeks of planning.
I had made sure to be there.
I even brought jambalaya for the reception afterward.
EmBee had been very active in the choir and in other capacities at "my" religious place of choice, Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church.
I was very glad to see that Reverend Billy Hester was able to officiate over the ceremony.
You see, since AMUMC is part of the "world Church" organization of the United Methodists, he is not allowed to officiate for the same-sex weddings of the homosexual members of the church in Savannah.
Why should that matter for this ceremony today?
EmBee was transgender.
Moreover, EmBee had died as a result of complications during the sex reassignment surgery.
I'm sure she would have felt quite cherished that Reverend Hester was leading the service to honor her life.

EmBee grew up male in Maine in the 1960's and 1970's, went into the military, got married, raised two daughters, and welcomed four grandchildren into the world.
That was all during the first five decades of her life.
Then, in 2010, EmBee revealed that she had been transgender all her life and now wanted to live as the woman she knew she should be.
Her family disowned her.
She had segued in the last eight years of her life from identifying as a gay man to identifying as a transgender woman named Brianna. Her family could not understand or condone that truth. If she was no longer going to be "Michael the Dad", then they were done with her.
This coincided with her move to Savannah. She soon found a new home with the folks at AMUMC, a church known for its open arms to diverse populations. She made friends and became an active member of this new family. Several of the women would come to regard her as their best friends.
About that same time, another Asburian, a transgender man, successfully underwent the several operations for his sex change. He is now happily married and living the dream he always wanted.
I have had the pleasure of knowing him for the years he identified as a lesbian as well as for the years since the surgery. I can assure you of this one ever-constant fact: the person inside the body has retained the same loving identity no matter what sex the physical body was.

EmBee was determined to also have the body she was born into altered into the body she should have had. To that end, she began fundraising, even using a crowdsourcing site to help attain her goal.
She also became more openly active for multiple causes. Last year, when the big news was Caitlyn Jenner, EmBee was interviewed and spoke on behalf of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender issues.
She spoke up the next month on gun violence in Savannah, to reporters covering the ceremony at the church. (I wrote about that event.)
EmBee also had a soft spot for strays, rescuing several cats from local shelters and sharing her love with them.
To her friends, this kind soul was known as one "too gentle to live among wolves", as Jo Poston said in the service. Janet and Kelly, very close friends with Ms. McDaniel, both concurred, sharing remembrances and tears with those of us present.
It's a shame EmBee did not find herself earlier in life. She might have been young enough then to withstand the arduous bouts of sex reassignment surgery her change would have necessitated. My friend was only in his late twenties when he had the surgery.
As the world had seen with Einar Wegener's bittersweet tale in "The Danish Girl", age plays a deleterious role for surviving the rigors of the change. The Danish woman was 48 when she had the final surgery; EmBee was already 62 years old.
At least the story of both women ended the same. Each had undergone the final stage of the change. Each was able to look at their body and see the woman they knew they were.
Each were able to be truly satisfied with their body's appearance for the first time in their lives.
Each woman was truly at peace and happy with the skin they were in at the time of their death.
I can't help but feel happy that their dream came true and their lifelong torment was finally at rest.
I cannot imagine that life.
I am truly blessed.
i thank You, God.