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My guess is my brother would call his mom and his dad pretty regularly, a lot more than I probably did.

What took time for my mom was getting the pronouns right and calling me by a different name. Laverne was my middle name before I transitioned.

My mother's very proud of the name she gave me. She thought it sounded rhythmically better. It doesn't really make a difference to me what people call me, but since my mother calls me Holly Marie when she's angry, I prefer just my first name.

My parents did call me Zowie now and then, but then, realising that it drew too much attention, they called me 'Joe'. Then, later, I sort-of co-opted my own name back.

My first nephew, he couldn't say Auntie Nicole, so he called me Coco. So ever since then, everyone's called me 'Coco.'

How often do I call my mom? You can never call your mum enough, and I should call my mum more often. But I speak to my mum very regularly and have a close relationship with my parents.

The name Sissy came because my brothers called me that.

People used to call me names, so my mom had this beautiful African lady come talk to me.

I remember being 24 in Los Angeles. And up until that moment, when my mom would call my cell phone and it would ring, I would be flushed with some sort of excitement that we all have - a little dopamine rush, when my phone rings - and I'd look down, and it would say, 'Mom.' It used to feel like a job to pick that up.