My wife and I have been together for 13 years now, she is very supportive and even manages not to laugh at me - something amazing considering how a 6'1" bearded pseudo-woman must look to an outsider. Oddly enough, she has seen me dressed innumerable times but this morning was the first time she has seen me getting dressed. Since I wake up far faster than she does, I am always completely dressed before she gets out of the shower.

This morning our schedule was out of joint, having stayed up late last night. She had to work today, so I was able to indulge Ricky on a Saturday while I was home. I got distracted working on my computer so was late putting my clothes on. I had just gotten my bra out of the drawer when she came out of the bathroom. Let me tell you - it was a very weird feeling to be putting on a bra and filling it with my forms with my wife watching! She simply put on her own bra without any fuss, but I swear there was a grin fighting to come out while she did it.

This reminded me of a column I wrote years ago when I was with my first wife and I thought I would share an excerpt:

I am once again unemployed, my wife has finished school and is now a MSW, working full time. The kids are home from college for the summer, my son complete with continental girlfriend in tow, and I have just signed up to go back to college in the fall. My previous laments at not having a family together have turned to laments of never having a moment's peace.

In the midst of this chaos son and girlfriend left for a week of vacation and daughter went to help a friend with an all week moving sale. I found myself alone with my wife for an entire week for the first time in years, and I was home all day long while she was gone. You have no doubt guessed how I spent my days, but what about the evenings? It has finally occurred to me that in a short period of time this will be the normal state of affairs, no children around to complicate matters, just the two of us. The time had come to do some serious talking about my dressing and her comfort level.

To be perfectly frank, I have always been uncomfortable dressing with my wife present, In fact far more uncomfortable than she is when she sees me in a bra and panties. She has always been supportive in the extreme, but my dressing has been confined to motel rooms when I was on the road or the occasional day the family went off to afford me the luxury of a day to myself. There have been only a few occasions over the years when my wife has been around me for more than a few minutes while I was dressed. I had come to the realization that this is about to change and we had to come to some new accommodation for my needs.

So with some trepidation I added another topic to the regular discussions we have scheduled to work through the problems in our marriage. For all my nervousness the topic was a nonstarter. Her immediate reply was to the effect of "I don't care, go ahead and enjoy yourself." If only all our problems were as easily dealt with. So I spent the day in blouse and skirt, controlled the automatic urge to run to the closet when I heard the door open that evening, and greeted her with wooden spoon in hand and apron covering my bodice as I cooked supper that evening. I surprised myself at how easily I adjusted to being with her en femme. We ate dinner companionably, and I even enjoyed washing the dishes, a task my male self does only under extreme pressure. We even continued part of a serious discussion of our problems undistracted by my attire. In all a very successful day and a portent of good things to come. I was really looking foreword to the rest of the week.

Fool! I should have known that Ms. Murphy would not let a good thing continue. The doorbell rang and I beat a hasty retreat to the laundry room. While she greeted unexpected guests I spent the next half hour roasting in Hell, or at least the heat of the dryer running on a 90 degree day. My daughter had returned home unexpectedly with an friend who was staying the week and all my plans went out the window. Why is it I figure I will get a new job on the very day the kids go back to school and I have an empty house to dress in again?