clothes had to fit. The times before were disappointing, because the available clothes were not right for me. Of course I did not dream of buying feminine things for myself in those days. An interesting point can be mentioned however, and that is that I never felt the need, nor wanted to wear anything feminine under my masculine clothing, and never did. Again for me, it had to be all or nothing. Then one day, I found a magazine about female impersonators. You can be sure that I read, and reread that magazine. It was the first time I had seen pictures of men dressed in women's clothes, and at last I knew that I was not the only one. From reading the material, I felt that I was not one of them, but the knowledge that others were doing the same thing, made me feel much better. Dressing became a little more frequent, about once every two or three months. I still wasn't satisfied with my appearance, even though I always did the best job possible, complete with make up etc. This went on for several years, until at about age 38, when I bought my first clothes, matching sweater, skirt, and capris. Shortly after this, came the first cheap wig. At last, for the first time, I felt much more pre- sentable. Along with this there developed the desire to go out.

The first time out was a very hurried trip to the corner mail box at night. I left the door to the house unlocked, so that there would be no trouble getting back to safety! Well, I made it, the feeling after the first time out is hard to describe, relief, the wonder of it all, and pure joy! There were other trips after this, going for drives, window shopping, etc.

It was then that I saw a short article in Sexology magazine, saying that a magazine was being published for transvestites. I wrote for the address, and got Chevalier's box number. After ordering two or three times, Virginia wrote a note, saying that since we had the same inter- ests, and lived near each other, it might be nice to meet. This is the way Virginia and I met, just about ten years ago, before she organized FPE, I am one of the very first members.

Dressing and going out continued, and a new feeling came over me, I found, I did not want to dress unless I was going out. Weekends and vacations were spent as a woman, shopping, eating out, and most everything else that women do.

Then came the fateful day when Mother retired from her job in a distant city, and came to live with me. This was a problem, because by now dressing had become a part of me. I had also started electrolysis treatments for removal of my beard. As mentioned before, Mother and I had lived together before, we always got along very well, and never

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