Raising Her Daughter In Spokane Part Five

Mom was a joiner. She was always finding clubs and organizations to join. Many of these clubs would occasionally hold functions such as tea party or book readings or . . . Well, does it really matter to you.

Most of these clubs were for women and their children.  Whenever we attended a meeting or even for one of these clubs, I always went as Yvonne.

Most of the other club members knew nothing of Glen.  To them I was just Nancy's little girl Yvonne.

One of the clubs was a service organization where the women got together once a month and discussed all the things they wanted to do -- and somehow never did.  These meeting often had themes such as when I wore this dress.  It was Spring and we were all suppose to attend in our finest Spring outfit.

The reason I choose to share this photo is that it is indicative of so many of the outfits and dresses I owned as a little girl.

Once Mom and I started down this path, it was often difficult to determine who wanted more.  Despite my feelings, I was a normal kid and often felt that my life was just too different and I wanted to be the same.  On these occasions. Mom would push me to be more of a daughter for her.  Some times Mom had doubts about the life I was leading and on these occasions I would beg Mom to let me spend more time as Yvonne.

There simply was no telling on any given day which of us would be the one who would first suggest that it be a Yvonne day.  That was truer during the early years and became less  true during the later years.  By the time of this Spring Social Mom and I were both almost always on the same page.  We were both in total agreement that if I was going to be a girl then I was going to be all girl.  This is all-girl dress.

In keeping with our evolving commitment that if I was to be a girl, I had to be all girl, Mom felt it was very important for me to learn to move as a woman does. Of course, as in so many other socialization processes, I was already learning how girls move by watching how other girls move. I most definitely was not looking to mimic the movement and mannerisms of boys. However, it was not enough my Mom suggested that I simply move like other girls do. I had to be the mistress of my body and the way it all move together. So as part of my lesson on learning how to move, she taught me how to belly dance.

    

Later in life I would take what I had learned about dancing and movement and use in for pole dancing.