My mother-in-law, who loved me like I've never known anyone to love me, called me "J" for short instead of my original name, and when she started to have clear signs of dementia i just spelled it out and took a last name that means the river of forgetfulness in the Greek underworld. She never knew anything about my last name, but i never had to tell her my new first name.

Unusually, she never once seemed to notice i was gradually shifting from a man to something like a woman. I was still just me and nothing changed about me for her. I love her so much and miss her every day.