Welcome to Vogue

Prologue

"I remember well how my journey concluded, but my beginnings, they were rough, growing up and being raised a boy, my oh my, that feeling of knowing you're out of place, like you don't belong, born in the wrong body, maybe even into the wrong family."

I said to my children as I stood from the couch

"My biological parents, they used to love me, or at least the person they thought I was, who they wanted me to be, and I am NOT going to stand here and look at you all and tell you it was not rough because it was, but I would live through those same struggles every single one of my lives if it means I get to be my most true and authentic self"

Their faces lighted up as I swayed my hair from one side to another

"I, like you, suffered a lot, but in this city, in this town, I found my real family, I found myself. The only thing I regret, is not knowing so, sooner, but now I do and I want to help you all get to that place because it takes a village, and I, I owe it all to them"

I pointed to a picture hanging on my wall, the shades of grey blurring with time, but the faces of me and my sisters say everything there is to say. That day, we danced through the streets of Los Angeles to the sound of VOGUE as the world did nothing more than watch, but that's not all, that picture is almost as old as I am, well, maybe not so old, it was taken 26 years after my birth, and six after my rebirth.

That's right, I was reborn on June 17, 1987, my name is Marritza, and yes with a double R, so make sure you roll them R when you mention my name, for when this story begins I may not seem like much, and the day it ends, I will only be starting my journey, but where I am today, I am a matriarch, a mother to all, an example, a MONUMENT and I will be damned if anyone disrespects me or the name I chose for myself.

Now, be a good dear and follow to the next page, that's where the real story begins...