I have been crossdressing forever, I am not even sure when it began but I do remember I was quite young. Being an only child it was usually my mother’s clothes in the beginning until I got old enough and brave enough to buy my own. After college I got my own apartment and proceeded to indulge myself as I wished, sometimes a lot, sometimes not for weeks.

As I grew older I grew apart from my parents in spite they only lived a couple of miles from me. I would see them on the usual family holidays and that as about it. In spite of the youthful age, they were only 20 when I was born, they had already started to plan their retirement buying a beautiful home on Lake Michigan about two hours drive away, then the bottom dropped out. At the age of 52 my father was killed in an industrial accident. My mother was devastated and sold their home and moved to their place on the beach. Thankfully between what they had saved, my father’s investments and the settlement from the accident Mom would never have to worry about money.

My father’s death shook me and made me realize my own mortality even at the age of 32. I began to get deeper into my crossdressing and exploring my feminine side. I started going out, first just for drives at night, then to clubs where TG’s (although that term was not in vogue at the time), and eventually into the light of day. I went anywhere en femme I chose whether it to be a movie, the park, and yes even the stores and malls. From that point Beth never had to settle for something her “boyfriend” bought her but instead shopped for her own clothes. Being only 5’7″ and 140 lbs I could pass fairly well and never had any problems.

At this time I also started to truly establish Beth’s persona and personality. I became fascinated with the businesswoman look of the era and many times was in a skirted suit with the requisite pumps. I had my ears pierced, first one then the other, much to the consternation of my conservative German employer. Fortunately I was the number 1 sales person by a long shot and they learned to live with my little idiosyncrasies.

My relationship with my mother was at best strained, an occasional phone call, the usual Christmas and birthday cards, and an even rarer visit. As I sat that summer of 1988 I realized I was staring 35 in the face and I felt the time for me to come clean, at least with my mother so I took a couple of days off and drove out to see her. When I told her of Beth and my “hobby” she said she had known for years however she felt she could not support me in this. I felt crushed, I guess I had hoped she would welcome with open arms however deep in my heart I guess I knew she wouldn’t, damned conservative Catholic she was! I left early that weekend and headed home resolved to what had been at best a strained relationship was going to go grow more distant.

It was a couple of weeks after that I was home one evening when the phone rang, it was my mother. She told me she was sorry we weren’t closer and how she admired my courage to come out to her even though I should have done it years ago. We talked for almost an hour and when she got ready to hang she told me she loved me, something I hadn’t heard in years from her. After we hung up I began to wonder what brought all this on but I was happy in that at least I may still have some form of a relationship with my mother. The phone conversations with mom grew to be several times a week and each was longer than the pervious one. They were all basically pleasantries and stuff about family until one in early October.