Transvestia

memories of the furtive excursions into my mother's room to first admire and later try on the various articles in her wardrobe. The electrifying thrill of trying on that first slip, bra, or pair of panties-- quite familiar to all TV-s--was a part of my young life, as was the vivid imagination that suddenly transformed me into the femi- nine creature exemplified by the clothes I would be wearing at the time. Dresses, shoes, stockings, etc., soon followed and Gisele was born--although she didn't have a name at the time, and before she would be known as Gisele she would be called Carol.

To really begin, I was born in Chicago in 1935, the son and 1st child of a prosporous, self-made businessman and his attractive and cultured wife. My sister P was born in 1938. This was the second marriage for both of my parents and they were far from being teenagers when I was born. Dad was 43 and Mom was 36. Both of my parent's first marriages had ended in divorce, and although Mother's was childless I have a half-brother, R________, as a result of Father's. R__________ never lived with our family and has always been more like a distant cousin than a brother to P__________ and me. In fact, he is almost old enough to have been my father. An interesting side- light before leaving this topic is that during my college years I found out that R__________ was, and remains today, a practicing homosexual of the swishy and passive type. He knows that I am a TV, as does my Mother, but to the best of my knowledge no one else in my family is aware of this.

My father, who died suddenly in 1961, came from a poor Swedish-Norwegian immigrant family. He had to help support them and thus his formal education ended with the 8th grade. As a result he was extremely proud of becoming a wealthy man by his own means and often used his loud, boastful, and dominant personality to im- press others with his wealth and achievements (and in due respect to him, he was an extremely successful man in his retail businesses). It was usually not possible for him to express affection in words or by physical means (this was not "manly"), but he always provided well for his family and we never wanted for material comforts throughout the Depression or WWII. What few sentiments and endearments Dad did express were reserved for my

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