But my mother was much more understanding, having known of my crossdressing when I was at home as a child.

At first, my father wanted to leave his hometown. He made no effort to listen to any facts about transvestism and, for that matter, I really didn't know of any such facts to present to him. He did make an appointment for me to see a “shrink" total waste of time, as far as I was concerned. The Doctor knew less about transvestism than me.

Working as a common laborer proved to be getting me no-where so I put my "second self" aside "for the duration."

I attended a trade school for a year and landed a good paying job that I have held for the last fifteen years.

My third child, a boy, was born just before I started school, so with three children to raise, the money was the new job was most welcome.

By this time my daughter was getting old enough to go to school and we thought it best to shelter her, and the other children, was seeing me in any kind of women's attire.

Looking back, it would be hard to tell if this was the right thing to do but it seemed best at that time especially since we lived in a small town.

For several years I didn't even wear my shoes in front of my wife. So she thought that I had "gotten over" my need to crossdress. I'm sure that most of us realize that this just does not happen to a real transvestite.

In late 1974 I was looking over some magazines in a book store. I had noticed some magazines that dealt with female im- personation and I eagerly purchased several. Inside were strojes and articles as well as photos about how men transformed them- selves into "females" and that whole conception of imperson- ation completely captured me. There were even advertisements dealing with books on make-up and accompanying instructions. I even sent away for several of these books on "how to" to see what they were like.

When the books arrived I used them to help me to com- pletely learn how to use make-up. I started taking photographs of myself after I learned about how to makeup my face, although they were initially taken in black-and-white film. But this gradually gave way to color film. I felt that I was doing a fairly good job of looking "for real."

Fortunately, I knew several girls whom I trusted and who were quite liberal-minded. I asked their opinion on how I looked. They would take a good deal of time, analysing my pictures and pointing out refinements and improvements which I would soon employ when I made up my face.

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