I started this little tale as an answer to “We’re All Different” by my (everybody’s) friend, JaneS but like Topsy, it just grew so I have decided to submit it as a separate story.
I have been following Cross Dresser Heaven for a number of years, long before it became the fully interactive site it is today, as Jane has said, it is the best transgender site on the internet.
I have been dressing for over over 50 years, I don’t know why I started but when I did it, I felt as if something was ‘right’ about it. For most of that time, when I was dressed, I also felt an increased sexual awareness and when puberty hit me, I always received a higher level of gratification when I was dressed or even fantasizing about being a female participant in a sexual act and usually I would be seeing myself as a lesbian.
The weekend before our wedding, I worked the night shift till 4.00am and would wake up at midday, my fiancee paid a surprise visit to my home (we lived 60 miles apart) and came into my bedroom when I was due to wake up. She could see that I was wearing a bra so I came out to her that I was a cross dresser. I offered her the option of cancelling the wedding, which she declined and a week later she became my wife. Instead of purging as I had planned, I took my collection of feminine clothing with me when we moved into the marital home and I have continued to dress throughout our marriage which is now approaching 42 years.
About 5 years ago, at my wife’s insistence that I find some like minded friends, I searched the internet for other people who shared my love of femininity. I opened a Facebook account as Sheryl and I discovered an Australian site called ‘Tranny Radio’ which is now Transgender radio or TgR. I also found a blog site called Cross Dresser Heaven which I began to follow and read ‘Cross Dresser Success Stories’ of other girls who followed the blog. Through TgR I found another Cross Dresser in my area, who I met in person at a public place and who then came to my home where we dressed and got made up and we shared some femme time together even taking pictures. She soon invited me to go with her to a gathering of cross dressers which was to be held in Melbourne (100 miles away) at a gay pub.
This became my ‘coming out’ to the world. After spending 4 hours dressing and applying my make-up then driving for another 2 hours, I walked into a populated public venue for the first time as Sheryl. Within 5 minutes I felt as if I had been reborn as the woman I’d been hiding for all those years. I was finally, completely comfortable, as me, a woman, wearing a dress and make-up in a public place, being treated as a woman by everyone there. Not only by the cross dressers but also the staff and all the other people in the pub. I was in heaven.
Within a few months I had met many other girls like me and I began to venture out to other venues like shopping centres where I was able to shop for feminine things without feeling out of place, at last.
Another thing I realised shortly after coming out, was that I no longer felt the sexual thrill when dressing femme. Being out in public and being accepted as just another woman, seemed to ‘normalise’ the behavior that I had previously kept secret from the world. I was not sexually dysfunctional by any means but I no longer related to my cross dressing in a sexual way, it was the new normal for me.
A few years ago, again at my wife’s insistence, I came out to our two children. I received and continue to receive total support and acceptance from them and their spouses, I go shopping en femme with our daughter-in-law whenever the opportunity arises. For the last two years we have celebrated Transparent day instead of Father’s day.
I also attended GLBTIQ events and met a whole new bunch of people who were a bit different to my previous ‘normal’ but were nice to be with and many of them became good friends. I now dress femme for about 50% of my time and go almost anywhere as Sheryl. I do try to dress to blend in but I prefer dresses and skirts and sometimes I find myself the only woman around who is not wearing pants.
Then CDH was changed and the followers became participants who could chat and send messages to each other, I saw that even among cross dressers there was a huge variety of people who had a different view of exactly what CD’ing meant. Among them are trans-sexuals, sissies, fetishists, bi-sexuals, the list goes on in infinite variety but the thing that sets all these people on CDH apart from the general population and in particular in chat rooms, is that they are all accepting of their differences and just plain ‘nice’ to each other, no matter what their individual point of view.
Friendships are formed in the chat room at a breath taking rate, sometimes I just sit and watch and wonder where all these beautiful people have come from. From the the Middle East, where a cross dresser is treated the same as a hardened criminal, from the Bible Belt of the USA where they are mortal sinners. From Capetown to Norway, all over Asia and South America too, girls from just about everywhere are sharing their tips and advice, their highs and lows, their feminine desires, their sisterly love for each other. TG/CD women from everywhere, all different but all with the same love of femininity, have found a new home on the internet where they can be themselves.
Thank you Vanessa.
Viva la difference.
Sheryl
More Articles by Sheryl Johnstone
Sheryl Johnstone
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- Viva la difference - November 22, 2016
You have a story to share Sheyrl for sure. I think it’s a perfect inspiration and a dynamic example of courage, courage to be who you really are and own. We all have own story to tell and though there is a strong commonality among us each one of our lives differ from the other in unique ways. I admire your courage from the very beginning of your story to the present time. You have the perfect life story to share with many who struggle with the same dilemma. As you are more than aware you are very fortunate to… Read more »
Thank you for the lovely comments Jackie, I am happy that you enjoyed it. I love to share a bit of my life with my sisters here on CD Heaven, I’m sure you have many stories that could be shared too.
Sheryl – I feel the same way about my dressing – it no longer is the sexual thrill it used to be. Now I just feel comfortable as a woman. It’s just something that’s a part of me. I have been this way for over 50 years, but just started dressing again after a 35 year “hiatus". I feel more alive now then I have in decades. I am so glad you have such a supportive wife – it makes everything that much better. Wish my wife was as supportive, but she is working on it. I am, however, lucky… Read more »
Thank you for the lovely comments April. I am very happy for your success in your outings and if you’re ever in my neighborhood I would be delighted to have you visit us.
Sheryl, Thank you for a lovely story illuminating how we are all similar yet different as well. Like you , there was a strong sexual aspect to my crossdressing in my younger years, as well as a great deal of shame at what I saw as a “deviant" lifestyle, and until the last few years, I would never have even considered transitioning. In the last few years however, the sexual aspects diminished to nearly nothing an it became more of a feeling of comfort and “rightness" when I dressed. My wardrobe expanded dramatically and I began to spend more and… Read more »
Thank you Cyn, I think have moved from a 3 to about 6 or 7 over the last 5 years as I too have accepted and learned to love myself and my time as Sheryl. I now spend 2 to 3 weeks of each month living as a woman. I am sure that your own journey and much more prolific writings have made that difference to many others here. Please do, come on down with April, bring Samantha with you too and anyone else you can find. We’ll chuck a whole box of shrimps on the barby and have ourselves… Read more »
Gee Sheryl, if you write any more of these stories the next lot of reffos we get will come by plane from the US.
Thank you for such a wonderful contribution.
Yes Jane, and wouldn’t it be marvelous to have such a lovely bunch of girls come to visit us.
Hugs
Sheryl
Sheryl,
Thank you for telling that story. You have a very special way of helping people just by telling about your own life experiences.
Smile,
Vickiej
Lovely of you to say that Vickie. Any assistance I have been able to give my sisters here on CDH has been repaid many times over.
xoxoxo
Sheryl
I Loved your story. My wife wondered if there was something more to shaving my legs than looking good in my kilts. I told her I always wanted to be a woman. I was amazed when she said then why don’t you be happy. You have worked hard and deserve it. Don ( Dawn a new day) when she is my husband. Sometimes when we make love together he knows just how to make me feel so special and loved. We go shopping ,sometimes as husband and wife other times as just girl friends. Last night was very special .I… Read more »
I would like to meet a transexual pre-op 18-50 years old a pretty slim feminine shemale as I’m 6’4 tall medium muscular build smooth all over.. I’m British born 36 years old handsome cute good looking and a GSOH.. I’m kind sweet funny honest caring and loving I’m straight heterosexual.. looking for my dream girl I live in London Walthamstow I’m single and lonely.. please help me find my 1 & only sexy shemale..
Sheryl, It’s a little late to comment on a story written five years ago, but I must complimen you on such a well told story. What strikes me most about the stories on CDH is how normal all the writers are. That is so assuring to me. That means I am normal too! I have lived in guilt for a long time. Now I realize there was no reason to feel guilty. Hugs and kisses, Danrella