Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Tallest Woman I'd Ever Seen


On September 3, my Nanna has cataract surgery. I've taken the day off in hopes I can help her be comfortable. I think I might take the opportunity to tell her about The Crossdresser. She knows him. Of course she knows him. She makes it a point to call him by his given name every chance she can and my heart swells every time. She says it with a wonderful reverence. It was her brother's name, the one who died when he was only 20.

Nanna was the one who told me that there were men who liked to wear dresses in the first place. I was eight years old. Nanna opened a sewing and alteration business when I was a baby. Her Mother was bed ridden and sewing was a way that they spent time together. The business did well and customers came from as far as Raleigh for her expertise with a needle and thread. In the back of her shop, she set up a magical room for my sister and I with our own sewing machines, boxes full of dress up clothes from the 40s as well as wigs from old aunties. I learned to runway in heels in that shop.

One Saturday afternoon, a large woman came in with bolts of shiny material for glamorous evening gowns. After she left, I told Nanna that she was the tallest woman I had ever seen! Nanna said she didn't think her customer was a woman in any kind of traditional sense. The customer called a month later and said her brother would be picking up the dresses. The same luxury car pulled up but a man in a suit picked up the dresses after inspecting them with incredible knowledge of dresses. He gave my Nanna a $100 tip and said his sister would be so pleased. Many large ladies showed up after that wanting fabulous dresses of their own.

Nanna never looked upon this as strange or wrong. People are as different as the dresses she made. I have always respected Nanna for respecting people for their individuality and yet, she is probably the only person in my family who is not aware of this special attribute in my Soul Mate which is kind of strange since she probably knows more Crossdressers than anyone in my family.

I have never wished that Jeanie would have showed up earlier. I am aware that my life was filled with many lessons and experiences that would later prepare me for being a Crossdresser's girlfriend.

Love is never late.

Love is always right on time.

I'm a better person for being a Crossdresser's girlfriend.

In ways, I feel I've outgrown current circumstance and long to live bolder and brighter than I ever could have before Jeanie.

I'm just waiting for that psychedelic school bus to arrive at the corner to take me to the next fantastic destination.

I long for positive change.

For me.

For you.


4 comments:

Amy K. said...

And my mother says that people of the "older generation" are old-fashioned and could never understand trans-people. Sh'yeah right! Your Nanna certainly seems awesome. :)

Stephanie said...

Back when I first started going to the gay bar, ('76) it was common to see at least one, sometimes two older ladies sitting up front at the drag shows. They were the mothers or grandmothers of drag queens who brought them along so they could see how the dress or gown looked when they were on stage performing. In those days, most drag queens had to stay deep in the closet, and the ladies were the seamstresses. You don't see that as much these days.

Lynn Jones said...

In the UK there's an old phrase that goes: 'it never happened in my day'. It's one of those sayings that - like a lot of things in British slang - has altered to mean just the opposite. :)

It jumped into my head as I read your story about you and your Nanna. Oh, a good luck to her with the surgery, my gran had both eyes done and did really well afterwards.

Yeah, "didn't happen in my day" - yes it did (obviously)... provided you knew where to look. :)

Thanks for sharing!

Melissa said...

That was sweet, CDGF, and very well written too!

Melissa XX