Cadance & Cathy
Cadance Anderson (she/her/hers) & Cathy Anderson (she/her/hers)
Cadance (Cady), 69, and Cathy, 68, met in high school in Tukwila, Washington, and have been married for 50 years. They have two children. Both have family ties to Central Washington and spent much of their childhood in Thorp and Quincy.
Cady came out to Cathy as transgender while they were still in high school, shortly after proposing. Cathy responded, “We’ll figure it out,” and their journey of figuring it out spanned many years. Cady began her gender transition around 2005 and came out to their family over the following decade. During this time, Cathy also came out as non-binary.
In February 2024, Cady and Cathy published a memoir, Forever and Two Days More: Our 50-Year Journey. You can read more about them and their memoir on their website here.
Audio Stories | Transcripts
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1. Meeting Each Other (adolescence, rural, spouse/partners)
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2. Connecting (adolescence, friends, spouse/partners)
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3. Cady Early Life (family, parents, rural, urban-rural movements)
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4. Reflecting on Thorp House (family, rural)
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5. Thorp Family Dynamics (adolescence, childhood, family, parents, rural)
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6. Social Isolation (adolescence, childhood, friends, isolation, repression, rural)
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7. Early Gender Journey (adolescence, gender expression, gender identity, isolation, parents, rural,
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8. Gender Realization (family, gender identity, gender realization, isolation, mental health, parent
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9. Belonging at the Ranch (family, parents, rural life, trans living)
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10. Accommodations (gender expression, gender identity, identity realizations, representations)
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11. Cady’s Senior Year (adolescence, friends, rural life, spouses/partners, support)
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12. Cathy’s Attraction to Cady (adolescence, friends, gender expression, religion/spirituality, spou
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13. Cathy’s Summer Quincy Orchard (adolescence, family, isolation, rural life, work)
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14. Cady Comes Out to Cathy (adolescence, coming out, gender identity, spouses/partners, support)
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15. We'll Figure it Out (adolescence, gender expression, gender identity, spouse, support)
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16. Cathy Higher Education (children, education)
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17. Son's UW Graduation (children)
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18. Wedding (family, gender expression, gender ideals, spouse, trans living)
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19. Distractions (family)
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20. Breaking Point (children, gender expression, trans survivial)
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21. Cady Being a Mom (children, gender identity)
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22. Matching (gender expression, spouse)
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23. Parenting (children)
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24. Needing to Transition (community, family, survival strategies, transition stories)
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25. Two of Me (transition stories)
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26. Grandchildren (gender identity)
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27. The Confrontation (spouse, transition stories, trans loss, trans survival)
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28. Finding a Therpist (spouse, support)
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29. Clothes Shopping (gender expression, spouse, support)
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30. Electrolysis (coming out, spouse, support, transition stories)
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31. Voice Therapy (support, transition stories)
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32. Medical Transition (transition stories)
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33. First Time as Cady (family, trans living)
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34. Cruise Experience (spouse, trans joy)
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35. Coming out to Family (children, support)
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36. Still the Same Person (coming out, family, spouse, trans support group)
We want to hear about your reactions to the stories! We want to hear from everyone, but are especially interested in responses from trans and queer folks. In the Comments section below, tell us a bit about yourself (whatever you are comfortable sharing, such as your age, gender, sexuality, where you live, etc.), what the storyteller shared, and how it resonated with you. Comments are moderated and are posted once approved.