RANSVESTIA

of the things that were weighing me down and decided to attack them in order of priority or ease of solution. I'll spare you the details of my other problems except to say that they are all solved or in the process of being solved and I see them no longer as a burden. I have a new job that is fulfilling, interesting and challenging at a most adequate salary.

Coming out of the closet as a TV was the most traumatically shattering of all. About that time I noticed an articule in Forum in which Virginia's name and address were mentioned. I wrote for information and the prompt and open response gave me the courage to talk to my wife.

One night when I couldn't stand the pressure any longer, I told her I was going upstairs to "play in my suitcase"-my son being away at school and the girls in bed asleep. When I came down dressed, relaxed, feeling fresh, clean and feminine from the skin out—and even a little from the skin in-I picked up the newspaper to use as a front while I pulled myself and my tactics together. Finally, I put the paper down, looked at her, and said, "Honey, do you know what a transvestite is?" She wasn't too sure but had a rough idea. "Well, dear, I'm one," I said, slamming the closet door behind me forever.

What followed was about two hours of conversation with me doing most of it. While I was dressed I could explain better all of the feelings involved and, to me, the necessity of expressing them. She didn't by any means tum immediately into an "A" wife who pleaded for the chance to participate. Nor did she get sick to her stomach and rant and rave and threaten divorce. How I loved her at that moment. It brought tears to my eyes and my first conscious thought was for my

mascara.

She agreed quietly and thoughtfully that if it was that important to me and had been going on for so long it was a part of me and my life. But she said, "I don't want a sister, I want a husband." That was more than fair and I have never been so relieved in my life. Now I could face anything. She had been reading Sears catalogue and looking at women's clothes. I went over and sat beside her and we spent the last hour doing it together-complete contentment for me. I went out and made us both a cup of tea which we drank together and the "fearful” experience was over.

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