Our Family: September 2008 Archives

Yes I know... Fall isn't here yet. But today feels like Fall, with it's 50-60ish degree days. And there's this fall feel in the air. Everything is crisp. The afternoon sun finds it's way through the trees in the forest to bath the chrysanthemums on my porch. They are in full bloom now. The "homeless" neighborhood cat, Justin....

...comes by daily (from his home down the street), to tell us how hungry he is, so that we will give him sliced turkey feast with gravy, with a bit of fresh cream to wash it all down with. Shameless, but I have a soft heart for creatures it seems. I even leave food out for raccoons, birds, opossum, and the like. You never know who's going to stop by.

Mom just left after spending a few days with us. We had a good time. We took her to see Gillette Castle, and had a nice picnic lunch out at Mashapaug Pond. She went back to Idaho last Wednesday.

We are getting ready to go back out to Idaho the first part of October. Kent is being presented with an award from the college we both went to, where we met 33 years ago. We went to The College of Idaho. I'd like to say that it was a friendly and inviting place for gays, but it wasn't. There was a lot of homophobia at the time. And of course, there still is in Idaho in general. But there are places of light in Idaho, such as Boise, where it's more ok to be different. Keep in mind, in many places in Idaho, it would still be very difficult to be a person of color. It would also be rather dreary and dreadful for a gay person to live in Idaho now if they didn't live in Boise. That's just my opinion and the opinion of a few gay people now living in Idaho.

So, I was honestly surprised when I RSVP'd to the college to be at the presentation dinner for Kent. I asked them where I should send my check for the awards dinner, and the lady on the other end told me. I hung up, and 10 minutes later, she was calling me back, after speaking with the Alumni Director, to tell me that since I was "coming with Kent" (couldn't bring themselves to say "partner" or "spouse"), that there would be no charge for me because I'm a "CO". I said, "Hummm, ok. Well, I guess that's a good thing." I'm thinking to myself, "What the hell is a CO?" Perhaps "cohabitating other"? She was very clearly uncomfortable having this conversation, so I simply let her off the hook and said that I understood what she was trying to say. So in some sense, the college we went to is trying in their own way to give us the dignity of being a couple, without coming out and saying it. I guess that's progress... kind of... sort of. Of course, I have no idea what Kent will say when he gets up to speak. That's up to him.

I think it's also progress that Mom told me that she called the college to tell them that if they didn't pick up my tab for me, that they would (both hotel and the cost of the dinner). People are trying, but damn it, it would be nice if the college and our folks didn't have to go through these hoops to reconcile this with their sensibilities, without it looking like Kent and I have something, and more to the point, that they are enlightened. I know their intentions are good, but I go away feeling patronized and being something that, unfortunately, is something (me) that has to be worked around so they can have this event. It's honestly not a very positive feeling. And this is all probably happening so much behind the scenes so that the college (and our folks) in no way come out looking like they condone what we are. God, I'm so far beyond this crap.

But, this is progress. This time, at least I'm being invited to go. Last time, Kent ended up going to his Dad's award... I wasn't invited because I would be an embarrassment... and, I took the opportunity to go to the Virgin Islands alone. Yes, beautiful there, and it sucked, all at the same time.

So, we are flying back for a few days. And we've decided that we need a new set of luggage. We are doing our part to stimulate the economy... new clothes, new cologne (Armani stopped making Emporium (bastards), so now I have to go with Diamonds by Armani, an actually fresher and more sophisticated fragrance. Now, it's back to the mall for a nice dinner at Bellini's, and then off to buy luggage. This time, we are going to buy luggage with some color to it, most likely red. With most people getting black luggage, it's hard to tell them all apart. With Kent traveling so much, I'm afraid our luggage has seen better days.

We are also going to New Zealand in December, which is especially nice because while we are having winter in Connecticut, it is summer in New Zealand. So, we will be scoping out what we have time to see and what we don't. We will probably be there two weeks.

For those of you who have scratched me off their list as another Internet casualty (read, lost interest in sharing my little life with the rest of the world), it's not true! And it's not that I've decided to voluntarily take time off and not blog. It's simply that my life has become somewhat complicated lately (read, busy as hell so when I come home, those few hours between catching up on the day with my family, and going to bed, are so precious to me that I don't want to share my time).

Work has become very challenging for me lately. It's not because things are more technically challenging for me. It's just that there are some major upgrade initiatives at work that I'm heading up that are so mentally and time consuming, that I've had little time for anything else. But, in time, a month or so, this too will pass. So, until that time, my posting may be a bit sporadic. For those of you who continue to visit, thank you for thinking of me and for visiting. I'm not going anywhere!

Just some updates of our lives.....
- We are both healthy and doing well

- In a month, we are both going back to Idaho (very quick trip - 2 days there in all), where Kent is being honored with an award from the college that we both went to, and, where we met.

- I'm doing great, but stress is taking it's toll. I do find some comfort in my 18 year old single malt Scotch though, just before going off to bed. :-)

- We are going to New Zealand in December. Kent is going there for a couple of days of meetings. We will spend two or two and a half weeks there touring the two islands. FUN! Can't wait.

- Getting excited to see Mom again. She is coming for a visit in a couple of weeks.

- Getting excited to see friends again in Idaho in early October!

So there you have it. Nothing bad happened to us. Just crazy as hell. And I'm more addicted to iTunes than ever before. It's like heroin, only nicer. Oh, and the person who cuts my hair moved to a new place in West Hartford (pricey), and right next to the hair salon is a Bose store. Not good!!! So, after I got my hair cut, it seemed only natural to buy some new Bose noise reduction headphones for my trip to Idaho. I'm so impulsive about such things.

I'm trying to catch up on some photos I took. Here are a few of them. I just got around to posting them now. It was from a small walk we took yesterday along one of Coventry's many rivers.

Oh!! And by the way, for those of you who post comments to my blog, I now have THREADED COMMENTS!! You can now reply to a specific comment that someone made, and it shows it as a reply -- something that I've wanted for quite some time.