Full title: "Dear Mom and Dad: You Don’t Know Me, But …" by Georgia Lee McGowen.
Georgia Lee McGowen’s autobiographical book Dear Mom and Dad: You Don’t Know Me, But …, published in 2012, is a remarkable exploration of the lifelong journey of a person navigating the complexities of a dual-gendered identity. Much has been written about individuals who feel they were assigned the wrong body at conception, often highlighting the struggles and tragedies that arise from this mismatch of nature.
However, very little attention has been given to the nuanced inner experience of living with two distinct sets of emotions, one male and one female, inhabiting a single soul that at times feels divided and at other times united. McGowen’s work fills that gap, chronicling the gradual, intricate process of understanding and reconciling two clearly identifiable spirits.
Dear Mom and Dad: You Don’t Know Me, But … traces the life of George through the perspective of Georgia, the female half of their soul, beginning with early childhood in the post-war Texas oil fields and continuing through the innocent school years in northeastern Oklahoma. The book captures the onset of puberty, during which the ever-present sense of not being normal casts a shadow over nearly every aspect of George’s life. The narrative unfolds as George faces the collapse of a lifelong dream, yet begins again, fostering new hopes, dreams, and the pursuit of love that has been longed for by both halves of their soul. Georgia emerges gradually, learning to embrace her identity within the duality, a process complicated by a profound tragedy that shapes her understanding of self and faith.
