This is the story of how Emery Walters became whom he was supposed to be.<br><br>I knew I was male at an early age, something that was a societal no-no in the 1950s and still is in parts of the country today. Burying my male identity, I strove to be the best woman possible. But after raising my four wonderful children from two debilitating marriages, I found myself alone and nearly penniless. That was when Emery asserted his identity.<br><br>Life became better with the shift from female to male, a third marriage, and a wife who, herself, transitioned from male to female.

Some Fine Day

Other than the body issues, there were two other things at work here. One was the music at the time, the theme of there being one man for every woman. When my first came along, I figured he was it, the one. That was all I’d ever get, the only one who ever wanted me, even though he was in love more with the girly parts than with my personality. Still we married, had three kids and made a relative success of seventeen years together.


The second issue was basically my belief that—and mine was the last part of the generation that believed this—women were meant to stay home, stay in the background, and support their man. And raise children. My mother did that, and she was all I had for a model of how to act like anyone at all. My dad was so cold and remote and standoffish and a few other things that there was no way I wanted to act anything like him whatsoever. Besides, it might break my ‘disguise’, leaving me open, and vulnerable.


Chapter 12