Showing posts with label Tracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tracy. Show all posts

December 23, 2011

Tracy

Tracy, age 12
Salem, Oregon (1972)

This was me on Christmas day, 1972. My poor mom went shopping for an outfit she thought I would like, and bought a shirt with a man's necktie attached as part of the shirt! I was devastated. My mom saw my face when I opened the gift.

I looked up at her, and with tears streaming down my face, and I said:

"You think I'm a boy????"

So my mom took that shirt, got her seam ripper out, and removed the necktie.

My life was unusual already, having deaf parents. I have deaf relatives on both sides of the family. It is hereditary. However, I do not have any hearing loss.

My mom taught me how to do everything.
I knew how to cook, clean, sew my own clothes and iron.

But as my dad didn't have a son at that time,
I learned his trade as well. He was a car painter, a body and fender man. I learned to mask, sand, and apply primer.

I knew I liked women at the age of five. I liked the way my first grade teacher smelled, and she was very affectionate and kind to all of us.

But I didn't know what being a lesbian meant. I had only one boy I talked to, but we never dated, and my first experience with a woman didn't happen until college.

As for the outfit, I wore it over and over, until I grew taller. I felt so cool!
And I still looked like a little dyke, even without a necktie!!!
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February 04, 2011

Tracy

Tracy, age 7
Yellowstone, Wyoming (1973)

Here I am at age 7, just out of 1st grade, on a family trip. I was with my parents and two younger sisters. We lived in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and spent almost 3 weeks on the road. I was a tomboy from the beginning, and I remember how exciting it was to get this cowboy hat and run around playing cowboys and Indians (and no, we weren't very PC-aware back then...) When I look at this photo now, it makes me laugh - I was so butch and self-confident!


My parents were always very cool and didn't force me to wear girly clothes. And my Mom gave up on dresses before I even hit kindergarten. My middle sister is only one year younger than me, and we often chose to dress alike. Funny, she is a lesbian, too! Our youngest sister, who is straight, is the odd-girl-out.

Boys did not interest me in the least, and I had my first serious crush on a girl in 2nd grade, and I never looked back.

For young gay and lesbian kids who might be reading this -- hang in there and believe in yourself. I am 45 now, and the changes I have seen so far in my lifetime are incredible. When I was your age, I never would have imagined I could be married to a woman, but I now live in New Hampshire and I am.

By the time you are my age, it will be an even more different world.
You have lots of love and happiness ahead of you!

Tracy's first, famous-person same sex crushes:
Julie Andrews, Helen Reddy, & Karen Carpenter
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Click here - "Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay" book
Click here - "My First Gay Crush Blog"
Click to follow this blog with Bloglovin'