I had a very interesting experience last month while visiting my Mom. A little background info first, my parents divorced when I was 7 years old, my father used his connections to win custody of my brother and I so I saw very little of my mother after that, maybe an aggregate total of 3 to 4 years in the past 43. She never remarried, opting to remain an independent person. Despite her forced absence we remained in touch and I did get to live with her for brief periods when my father found it convenient, the point is my mother had been out of my life for most of it, but I never doubted that she loved me and always felt closer to her then anyone else.
We are now at a time in our lives where we can forget about the past, show each other we have always cared and learn about who we are as persons. About 2 years ago I told my mother about my dressing, she didn't understand it and didn't want to see it, but our relationship remained intact and the subject would come up in the course of normal conversation and I could share a little bit more and she would take that in and process it, baby steps. Last month we hit 2 major milestones, she had been considering telling her sisters but wasn't sure how it would go over, I said, “you can tell anyone you want, it's no big secret for me and I'm not ashamed of who I am”, so she did to show me she wasn't ashamed of me either, and it turned out they were all cool with it, then she followed up with a request to go to a Tri-Ess meeting with me in Atlanta on her next visit to learn more, which also means she's willing to see Maria for the first time.
Now to the “very interesting experience”. The primary purpose of my visit was to do a little more renovations on her house and just hang out with her, but also planned an outing in Orlando so I had my “stuff” with me and broke out the beautiful plum colored evening dress I was going to wear the next night and showed it to her, she looked and said “your sh**ing me”, I got worried that maybe I shouldn't have shown it, but she went into her room and came back with a stuffed garment bag she said, “this is the formal outfit I wear when I go on a cruise” she brought out a black pants suit set that had swirls and highlights the exact same color as my evening dress. So I broke out the rest of my outfits and jewelry and my Mom broke out more of her outfits and her jewelry, and our tastes in colors and styles were beyond similar, mostly identical. It blew both our minds. She gave me several pieces of her jewelry that she liked but no longer wears, and I would have bought any one of those pieces on the spot if I'd seen them in a store.
I don't know if that says anything about genetics, or pure coincidence, but it felt good and I was happy.
