I was a bit of a late starter, I suppose, 14 yrs old. It was my sister's 16th birthday and we had all gone for the weekend to the Disneyland hotel in S. California, just outside our home in LA's San Fernando Valley. It was then while all were elsewhere and I was alone that I first realized the possibilities. There in the bathroom were my mother's and sister's bathing suits hanging to dry. Really, it was almost instinctual as I pulled my mother's one-piece suit off and just… well, put it on. Without a thought, I remember so clearly, I pulled off tons of toilet paper to fill the suit's 36D cups. From there, of course, all my mother's makeup seemed just natural to try on too. To say I was excited hardly describes it. But it was when I first pressed her Avon Periwinkle Pink lipstick to my lips (yes that was the shade, will remember it to my dying day) when all came to be and I discovered my true self. With each stroke of that lipstick, I became more alive than I had ever felt. After a bit of work, blush and mascara as best as I could manage, I couldn't believe how attractive I had become, feeling and looking just like a girl… my reflection in the mirror that of nothing but a newly discovered ingenue. It was such an amazing day, perhaps the best of my life.
