mailed the letter. I told Virginia about this after meeting her and learned that she would probably have seen through my inquiry as she told me she gets quite a few like that. I wonder how many of us have gone through the same thing, wanting to contact TRANSVESTIA, but being afraid of exposure or something else. About two years passed before I did contact Virginia and I have never been sorry. I had come to the realization there must be something there must be others like myself who want to reach out to find friends with the same interests so I finally made the plunge. I might say that it was with this finding of TRANSVESTIA that I have come to accept myself as a TV and I am no longer ashamed. I am happy with my two lives.

What now of myself with members of the opposite sex since accepting myself as a TV? I had been dating a lovely young girl — eighteen years younger than myself for about five years. About two years ago I told her I was a TV. She found it hard to believe, so I took her into my bedroom and showed her many of my dresses and other apparel. We continued to see each other for some time after that, still enjoying each other's company and doing the many things we enjoyed doing together, sailing, theatre, trips, golf, movies all those things, up until about three or four months ago. During our last date we discussed my TVism. I did most of the talking. She hardly entered into the discussion, merely listened. I showed her some polaroid pictures of myself in dress, but they did not impress her. In fact, I guess they left her cold for we have not had a date since that time. I have been to dinners and parties where she has also been. She is friendly, but that is about all I can say regarding her attitude.

This girl had known about my TVism for about two years prior to this incident. Shortly after telling her about myself, I also told her brother-in-law. His only comment to me was, "so what, if that's what you enjoy enjoy it." He also mentioned he had even tried on a pair of his wife's panties, but they did nothing for him. I told him he was fortunate the "bug" did not bite him.

Since that time a very dear friend of mine a woman I have known ever since I came to California has re-entered my life. She was a hostess at the place we often went to for lunch. I had been dating, (let me call her Diane), for many months, even before I was married or before my engagement. Nothing really materialized, but we have always kept in touch with each other throughout the years. She has been living in Ari- zona for the past four years and occasionally comes to California to visit her daughter. One weekend when she was in the area I invited her

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