Grandchildren Complete the Circle of Love- by Kim Mason

Kimberly Young-Mason Start Date: May 15, 2016 - End Date: Oct 11, 2016
  • The Dalles, United States of America

My Travel Story

by: Kimberly Young-Mason Start Date: May 15, 2016 - End Date: Oct 11, 2016
Grandchildren complete life's circle of love.

    Hello . My Name is Kim Mason. First off I want to thank you for your interest in helping me raise money to travel back to my home state of Oregon. My goal is to meet my grandchildren and see my daughter for the first time as Kim. My last visit to the Pacific Northwest was in July of 2010. I guess a little back story would be in order here. 

   My Daughter was born in 1991. I was 24 years old, a young Chef, aspiring to be a professional musician. At that time, everyone involved felt it was in the best interest of the child that it would be assumed I was not the biological father.

   I watched her grow up from afar while still living in my hometown of Roseburg Oregon. It was, at times, painful for me. Even more adding to my regret was that the kid was in the same school, same class as my partner’s son.

   In the Year 2001 I moved to Buffalo NY losing all contact with my daughter’s mother. It was at this time I started my transition from male to female. Oh maybe I should mention that I am a transgender female. It may clear things up a bit as we continue with my story.

   6 years had passed and I was living my life comfortably as the person I felt I was born to be. Then in February 2007 I got the phone call I had only been dreaming about for 15 years. It was from my daughter.  

    “Hello Tim?, she said.  I know what my mother did to you and I know that you are my father, And I want to be part of your life.” 

   When you transition you must be prepared to lose your friends, employment and sadly also you lose a lot of your family.  So now I had my daughter back. But I was not ready to lose her after losing so much already. So I kept this a secret from my daughter. Selfish of me I now realize. When I would travel home to visit I would do this in what I refer to as Butch Mode. Our father daughter relationship grew over the next three years.  Then in October of 2010 my grandson was born. And my daughter honored me by naming  him after me, Timothy. And then later in August 2012 another angel was born, my granddaughter Aly. Now I had a family again. 

   The year 2012 was a crazy year for me. June 2012, the company I worked for sold to another mortgage company. I later found out this new company did not have any transgender accommodation policy and later in November of that year my employment was terminated. But I must say 2012 also had a lot of positive changes in my life style.  The band I play saxophone in got a lot of positive press and we were moving up the charts in the local music scene.  

   After being mentored by an industry legend, news of my success broke into the social media scene of my home town Roseburg Oregon. My band was winning many awards and started opening up for national acts that visited the region.  My hometown is pretty small so word got out to my daughter.  

   It was Christmas Eve when my Kid called me and being the straight shooter she is point blank asked me. "Dad. This Kalifornia Kim thing. Is this a gimmick or is it really you?”  I answered, “Kim is who I am.”  OK. Not the way I wanted to come out to my daughter but I was not surprised that she was so accepting of me.  I remember her words exactly.  "Dad I loved you then and I love you now. Hell, I names my son after you." So Now I am known as Tran Daddy Kim.  I love it.

    Things were going great in my life Acceptance of my Daughter, Grandkids, and popularity in the Buffalo community.  

 “Except for the occasional heart attack, I never felt better.”

    On February 11th. 2014 while returning home from a band practice I was walking up the 20 stairs to my loft apartment in Buffalo NY when I collapsed.  Falling down I broke 4 ribs and a contusion to my heart.  I woke up in ICU.  Later I found out after tests that I had 4 heart attacks since October. I was rushed into open heart surgery and had a quad by pass.  Due to other complications that caused the fall and an autoimmune disease I am now on Temporary assistance and waiting my Social Security Disability Insurance.  Later I was told by the attending physicians if they had not found these clogged arteries, I would not have lived to my next birthday. Having a close call with death put things in perspective and really made me reevaluate life.  

   So now I guess I get to the point of all my gibber jabber. The reason I started this campaign on Fund My Travel is I want to visit my family and meet and hold my grandchildren. And meet my daughter as Kim. I have set an ambitious goal of $2500 to accommodate this journey. Here is my  break down of expenses. 

  • $600 for Air Fare.
  • $700 for 14 days of lodging.
  • $400 for ground transportation.
  • $280 for meals.
  • $300 for misc entertainment.
  • $220  to offset campaign processing fees, expenses and to maintain my current dwelling here in Buffalo New York.
   To keep us all updated as we work together on this fund raiser I have set up a blog at http://kaliforniakym.tumblr.com/ and also share this journey with all that have supported me.

  In addition, I have set up a YouTube channel Grandchildren Complete the Circle of Life where I will host a video vlog of this experience and also update you all with daily video of the reunion.   

   And finally I have a Facebook page Facebook.com/kaliforniakimsfundmytravel/ where you can be kept informed and up to date of any fundraising events outside this campaign page.

    OK.  Can we do this?   On behalf of myself and family, thank you for all the support and every little bit will help. 

Much love

  Kimberly Young Mason
  • The Dalles, United States of America

Updates

17

  • 50 Dollars Donated Toward Air BNB Thank You Alyson

    Thank You for your Generous Donation Alyson

  • Thank You Joyce And Dave

    Thank You Joyce and Dave
    Thank You Joyce and Dave for the generous Cash Donation of $100 Dollars

More Travel Information

Adventure Registry

  • Cannon Powershot ELPH 190

    150

  • Southwest Rapid reward points

    11,210

  • AirBNB 1 night in The Dalles

    $ 50
    Alyson
    • Granted

  • AirBNB 4 nights in The Dalles

    200

  • Southwest Rpid reward points

    11,210

  • Donation Texas Syle

    $ 60
    Heather Ewart
    • Granted

  • Donation Via Pay Pal

    $ 35
    Anonomous
    • Granted

  • Galaxy J 7 TMOB

    1
    TMobile USA
    • Granted