Rachel Berry the first was born in 1968, in Connecticut, to Rebecca and Abner, parents who loved her. She was the youngest of three, the only girl, and both parents doted on her. Rachel Berry's life would have been idyllic, if it wasn't for the one nagging doubt that plagued her.
For as long as she knew she was a person, Rachel knew something was wrong. At first, she thought it was the clothes that were wrong, the clothes that relatives bought her, that her parents chose for her. They never felt right. She coveted her brothers' clothes, and her brothers' toys, spending hours chasing after them, begging to be included.
As a teenager, the sense of wrongness grew, invading every part of her life. By the age of fifteen, she knew what it was. By the age of sixteen, she knew she had to tell her parents.
There was screaming, of course. Tears. Anger. Blame, denial. Eventually, there was calm, a semblance of defeat. Rachel had won.
Her parents sent her to live with her aunt, in Lima, Ohio. There, she reinvented herself, changing her name, her appearance, her entire demeanor.
She was finally happy. Finally comfortable in her own skin.
Her parents and brothers had expected the former Rachel to be unrecognisable; this did not happen. Rachel was still Rachel; their child, their sibling. The changes turned out, in the end, to be nothing more than superfluous details.
The former Rachel Berry found true love, in Lima. He, Leroy, accepted Rachel, accepted everything that had happened. He was more than Rachel could ever have hoped for.
By the age of twenty-four, the former Rachel and Leroy knew that they wanted a child together, and began planning accordingly. Of course, the process was more complicated than it would be for other couples, but they were willing and eager to work hard for the chance. Their baby was conceived when the former Rachel Berry was twenty-five.
It was then that the former Rachel's mother died, after an illness which came as a surprise to everyone. Heartbroken, the former Rachel returned to Lima, to place a letter in Rebecca's coffin.