Everybody else has told my childhood story in one way or another, and mine is a casebook type story. Small deviation for me though was that as a young child, I had to stay indoors and when out, avoid the rough stuff that other boys did due to severe allergies. Indoors, I liked doing needle work and lace work, other art work, and learning about cooking. As a teenager, only the cooking was an admirable achievement.
Fast forward to my late 40's when I had some money, and the kids were teenagers who left their single parent alone on weekends. I was on line then and found out there were two stores close enough to drive to that catered to the TG community. They were expensive, but the both did makeovers, and one was owned by a make-up artist with eye popping credentials from the entertainment world. I got a couple of pieces of clothing from each one, including the proverbial "little black dress", a wig from each store, and then I had an open weekend and booked a make-over session at 2 in the afternoon. The store had a coming-out special that got you make-up and wig styling, and I could have rented or bought stuff I did not have from them, and in the evening when their regular out customers came in, every body went to a "T" friendly restaurant a few blocks away. I got to stay around the store from 2:45 when the make over was finished until the others got there. The restaurant experience was wonderful, it was GLBT friendly, and everyone knew I was in drag and liked me anyhow.
