She was Glamorous

When I first met her, she was glamorous. Maybe she was just glamorous for Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. But to me, her life was fantastic. As a man, Peter Michael was a paratrooper in Vietnam. He lived with the Vietnamese as an adviser. He wouldn't talk much about his military experience. PTSD.
Although I was a psychiatric nurse, I didn't recognize her PTSD, likely because I didn't recognize my own PTSD. We shared the weird world view of PTSD victims but that didn't help us understand one another. It did, but as I learned very young, the best way to deal with it was to not deal with it. The compassion I felt I could not translate into action. All my fussing for her comfort seemed to backfire eventually. I did not realize I was trying to appease someone who could not be appeased.

As Peter, he'd gone to medical school, set up a million-dollar practice, married a Hungarian countess and fathered 2 children. At the same time, he was dressing as a woman and going to gay bars. He was Ms. Provincetown of 1980 at the Fanasia Fair (check name) gathering of transvestites and transsexuals. He took me there one year and I was impressed with the wild freedom in the streets.

Before, Michelle was full of fun and high spirits. The bitter little person hunched over in her mobility scooter was very different from the person I met. But the diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder explained the pitched battle and ultimate defeat.