RANSVESTIA

daughter as well. This could be one two-for-one sale she wouldn't jump at. (My father, incidentally, had died suddenly some 24 years before. As I got older our relationship became closer and for a kong time I missed him very much.)

The opportunity presented itself one afternoon when we were on our way home from seeing friends out of town. My wife wasn't with us. To say she was surprised and taken aback would be understatement. But she is some kind of woman! In her 70s she looks like early 60s, she is active, mentally sharp, modern and very much alive. I had brought the book, Understanding... with me and left it with her. A few days later I called her and asked her how she was coming with it. She had finished it and only had one major concem-that the children might catch me dressed and how was I going to explain it? This had worried my wife and I as well, but I had been taking that chance. Mom also felt it was unfortunate I had had to bear this burden alone for so long.

Her solution was that I should bring all my clothes, what few I had, down to her place and she would give me a drawer and room in her cupboard. How do I deserve to have two such marvelous women in my life?

In the meantime, my wife and I had had several more conversations about TVism and she was becoming more and more accepting. I had read her several excerpts from the book and we talked about them. She still hasn't read either of them herself. About this time I joined the Tri Sigma girls and gave my wife a C+ rating. Fantastic for such a short exposure to the subject. I have just renewed my membership and felt I had to move her up to a B—she's just super.

My dressing is now at my mother's apartment. I go for supper after work and change before supper. We two girls have dinner together, which I often help her prepare and we wash the dishes together after- wards. One early fall afternoon we sat on her veranda, me in an elastic strapless sundress showing some rounded breast, nude panty- hose and white spaghetti strapped high heeled sandals, a new hairdo and careful make-up, and sipped drinks before supper. My wardrobe is slowly growing and I now have something for almost any occasion. Neither my wife nor my mother are prepared to call me Barbara yet but I think it will come. I think that is all that is left that keeps me from sinking into the feeling of total femininity. Both feel that I still

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