RANSVESTIA

could be earning some money too. I couldn't afford to pay her a great deal, but it would help to hold things together while she learned her new profession. She agreed and so "Mary" became a part of Cheva- lier. That was in January or February of 1968. I had bought a new house as mentioned earlier which was selected for its location and situation to give me privacy and so Mary came to work there. She had had electrolysis herself and I was in the process of having it done.

When she was through with school, I introduced her to the woman who was doing me and who had more business than she could take care of and had tried several other electrologists who hadn't worked out. She and Mary hit if off and Mary began to work with her. A couple of years ago this lady had to retire from the business for health reasons and so now Mary has her own business and is doing very well.

But as I have already related I was now divorced and I had sold my business and now I had the example in front of me-Mary-as someone who could make the switch to full time living. One of the longest and most useful trips I took to give lectures, attend conventions, visit police departments, appear on TV shows (FP on TV?) and to visit FPE groups in existence and start up new ones, occurred in May 1978. When I returned from it after six weeks as Virginia, I had to revert to Charles for several days to visit an attorney's office to collect on a Trust Deed that was owed to me. When that was finished, I sat down at home and thought to myself, "I've been Virginia for the last six weeks, and I've been Charles for the last few days, who will I be tomorrow?" You don't need three guesses, do you? I realized that with no business responsibilities any more and no domestic ones either, that I could be my own person. So, I figured that since I had learned pretty much all I needed to know about being a man in this world, that I might just as well devote the rest of my life to exploring the other side of my own humanity. That decided, I called a friend in the beauty business and went and had my own hair permanented. That was in June of 1968 and I have lived as Virginia ever since-11 years. I can still remember the thrill of walking in the wind and feeling my own hair blowing in it. Winds. blow wigs too, but you don't feel it in your scalp. But, it was a real deep thrill to know what I no longer had to wear a wig, that I was really real. That with the nude encounter experience a little earlier were what made 1968 eventful-my "birth" as a full time woman.

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