During my girlfriend’s gender transition, we experienced many “firsts” together, some of them resonating with me in unexpected ways. This past Memorial Day when we were at the Jersey Shore, she asked me to teach her how to braid her hair. All I knew how to do was a basic braid, which entails wrapping three sections of hair around each other as evenly as possible. She sat on a chair across from me. I demonstrated (rather sloppily, but with care) with one braid down her left shoulder and another