Ha cute, Zoe will be my name too actually

I went through a few (Sasha, Chloie, Abby) but Zoe was the only one that resonated with me. My guy name is Scott and people often use Scotty so that to Zoe works phonetically. Everyone I've told likes it, bar my mother. But there is no name I could of picked that she would have liked anyway.
Zoes... Zoes everywhere! :O
I could go on about names forever, it's really a fascinating topic to me. It was also tough for me to get 'right'; I was considering two other first names (Laura, then Sarah) that never felt exactly right. I'm going pretty far off my birth name, outside of scale (it's still 2-2-2 syllables). Different etymologies, different vowel sound sequence, even different stresses on the middle name.
But yea, my parents don't care for it obviously. They found out 'cause it's what I have for my Google profile (because, fuck you, it's who I am) and they were just totally incredulous about it. Maybe 'cause I'm changing my last name too.
You just have to. When the whole world is against you and the only one who believes in you is you? And you stick to your beliefs because you know it in your core, whatever the cost? That's the making of you. The vast majority of the world will happily go with the sheepish flow of 'normality', they'll never know or risk anything different. What we have, where we have to 'earn' our gender? In my pessimistic moments I see it as a curse, in my optimistic moments I see it as a gift.
I know for certain that what I've been through will only make me a stronger, better person when all is said and done. That's what I fight for, that's the means to the end for me. To learn who I am really. I can't wait.
I've said it to a few people now- I wouldn't wish being trans on anyone, but I wouldn't wish I were normal. It's a considerable trial to go through, but once you come to accept that you can define and redefine who you are, no matter what sort of rules might've been laid out for you ahead of time, it totally changes your worldview. You don't take much for granted, you're not satisfied with convention, you don't find yourself accepting things just "are the way they are". If I can declare that I Am Woman, I can declare that I Am Anything, and I just need to embrace it and own it all the same. It's an immense challenge, and it takes a courage we don't always have, but it's something anyone can do and we must do. So many people can't do any of that, they just go by You Are. And if anyone tries to You Are us, they're gonna get it wrong. (Makes you wonder if they ever get it right.) So for all the challenges, all the loss, all the depression... to actually know and experience and express that self-actualization, that genuine and fearless identity... it's worth it all.
...Holy hell, can I ramble.