My parents always knew I wanted to be a girl but they did not approve. On the whole, my father's love was more unconditional, though.
My mother caught me dressing up more than my father, and she was always contemptuous. My father seemed mostly embarrassed or exasperated. As a child, the only time I heard him talking about it was he caught me hiding in a cupboard, where I had ducked while wearing a dress of my mother's. He didn't say anything to me but I heard him talking loudly to my mother. She was sitting with my grandmother who was visiting us from overseas, and my gran said something that implied she was not surprised.
When I was an adult, my mother was particularly scathing when people she knew recognised me, on the occasions I was out and about dressed as a woman. That was usually while I was house sitting for people, as being the lady of the house seemed to give me more confidence. Once, she simply said that she despised me. She didn't say why and I did not ask, but I knew. I tried not to show my feelings but I felt wounded for many years, until my mother became dependant on me, and somehow I couldn't hold anything against her while she needed me.
The only time I heard my father speak about it, when I was an adult, was when I announced I was returning to Britain. He blurted out that I was going to become a prostitute! I don't know where he got that idea but he had guessed right about me planning to live as a woman. My mother, brother and sister-in-law were also present. Embarrassing but I think that he was genuinely afraid for my safety, so I regard his outburst as an act of love. My mother actually got to Britain years before me and my father came with me, and I never permanently transitioned while they were alive.
How are they about it now? Obviously, I'd need a seance for that. If I had transitioned while they were alive, though, I believe that my father, though disapproving, would not have rejected me. I am almost sure that my mother, whom I also loved, would have rejected me. I sometimes think that transitioning while I was nursing her might have been a good idea, but then I remember that she had a weak heart and I really did love and care for her.
