My Journey: the early years;

Well, I suppose I should start when I first started to think I was different. I can remember I was about 4 years old. We were getting ready to move to a new state. I was telling my best friend goodbye. We were under "her" front porch saying all the things one does when leaving someone behind, "Remember me, and we will stay in touch," well... that was going to be hard to do because we were 4 at the time. So, I did what any "boy" would do: I kissed her goodbye. When we got to the new town, wouldn't you know? The next best thing to not leaving my hometown happened. I only had girls to play with. I can still remember their names. Melody, June, and Becky. The nearest boy to use was across town. I didn't care that I only had girls around. It felt like I was one of them. When I was around 7, I was over at one of the only male friends I remember having, at the time. We were in his sister's room, and I think she said we could try on her dresses and clothes in her closet. Give her and her friend a fashion show. Up till then, that was the best day I remember having.

Three years later, my mom was getting remarried. So, we ended up moving back to my hometown. This is where I met my official "first" girlfriend. We were together almost every day, but we didn't start to "officially date" until we were in the 7th grade (back then, it was Junior High School). After my mom and then stepdad got married, they bought a house just north of town. We stayed in touch until she moved out of state in our sophomore year in high school. When we moved, I didn't have any friends for a little while. I was quite shy at the time. I did finally make a few friends (they were all boys). Their names were Jeremey, Ben, and Ben's little brother Clinton. Even though I now had boys to hang with, the feeling that I was not really a boy myself did not go away.