My story starts before I was born. My Mother as far as I can glean, desperately wanted a girl and she would be called Monique. Having already got a son (my brother) this was to be the perfect wish. Dare I say - it was all her fault?
There were other children that I have vague memories of in the near vicinity as I passed through my first 10 years on this planet, and these were mainly girls. I remember joining in with great gusto with the dressing-up box that contained all sorts of pretty girl’s clothes. I never felt awkward or foolish -it just came very naturally to me and as far as I can recollect they accepted without ridicule.
My early days were not memorable with only one exception which remains with me to this day. I remember dreaming that I went into hospital as a boy and I underwent an operation and at the end came out as a girl. This is spooky, as this dream was when I was age 6 or 7 in the late 1950’s. What made me dream of this at the time, I do not know? It was a generally unheard of topic to the public and certainly for a little boy like me. I do not know to this day, so all I can think of is that it was a “prophesy” - always to be my destiny.