Suzi's open house

Chapter 8: The Summer of '69.

Eighteen, just out of school, and it was the summer of '69 (when Bryan Adams was about 8!), and living with my parents in London - it seemed the centre of the universe that year. I'd managed to acquire the basics of my femme requirements - tight fitting tanktop, mini-skirt, bra, stockings, panties, knee-length boots, make-up. Long hair was in and I didn't need a wig, though I 'borrowed' my mother's - she had very fine hair and could never grow it long, so she had a few wigs for special occasions. Dressing was limited to days or weekends when my parents were away.

Around about this time, my father told me that he knew of my secret - I hadn't been too clever at concealing evidence. He was very understanding - let's face it, as a Navy man he'd been around the world and had, with his mates, ventured into the seamier side of the world's cities. I broke down, but he calmed me by saying that I wasn't the only one, it wasn't so unusual, and that I'd probably grow out of it.

So ever since, we have been very close, more like friends than parent and child, and have always been able to confide our innermost feelings to each other. At first, the conclusion was that I was a Transvestite, but I knew little of Transsexualism/Gender Identity Disorder at the time. Years later, once it had been established, and I had accepted, that I was Transsexual, I told him when I started hormone treatment.

Both my parents brought me up to be my 'own person', to be honest and true, especially to myself. They never tried to force me down one path in life or another - it was my life to live, as I saw fit. I probably took a lot more advantage of this freedom, this liberalism, than I needed to, but I needed to discover my limitations.

One major realisation at this time was that I couldn't stay at home and I eventually got a job that took me far enough away to seek my own accommodation - so you can see already how this overwhelming need to have space for my femme side to blossom was beginning to shape my life, and turned out to be the most fortuitous move I could have made.

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