In the 1970’s I lived in a upscale high rise condo building in Minneapolis. I had a gay friend there who’s names was Mike. I will not tell you his last name. He was from a very famous and well to do family. Mike loved to go in drag and his drag name was Monica.  Every Wednesday Mike’s Grandmother would arrive in her chauffeur driven Rolls Royce.  Mike and Grandmother would go to a private club on top of a skyscraper for lunch and cocktails.

    Then Mike started to do what he called day time drag and asked us to call him by his drag name all the time now. After about 6 month Monica announced that she was going to be in drag the rest of her life. Grandmother knew about Monica but not the day time version. So Wednesday came and Monica asked grandmother to come up to the apartment and talk first….  Monica explained that for the rest of her life she was going to dress as a woman.

     Grandmother just smiled and said, “From now on I will call you my Granddaughter Countess Monica! Let’s go to the club for martinis.”

    Their Wednesday date continued on until grandmothers passing. Monica fell in love with a man and his 2 young children. Together they raised the children. Monica and her grandmother opened a finishing school for young girls called, “Countess Monica’s Finishing School for Proper Young Girls.”

    Today Monica is a Grandmother herself.