My Other Half, Part 2

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2006
Why I Suspected My Boyfriend Was Gay
Reason #31

Christmas Day 1994: After spending the day with friends, my boyfriend and I headed to Coconut Grove to see the new Robert Altman movie, Pret-a-Porter. While waiting in line for tickets, an older, very elegant gentleman caught our attention. Suddenly my boyfriend started hyperventilating and frantically whispering over and over, “Oh my God, it’s Gianni Versace. Oh my God, it’s Gianni Versace.” He was so excited, I thought he was going to tinkle in his pants. When Mr. Versace, came and sat behind us in the theater, I didn’t think my sweet, little boyfriend would make it through the movie. He almost didn’t, so we ended up having to change seats.

A few weeks earlier, also in Coconut Grove, we had a Shaquille O’Neal sighting.  We weren’t sure who it was, so I asked the people dining at the next table, if they knew. When we were told it was Shaq, my boyfriend seriously asked, “who’s that?” 

Part 2, The Letter 

J and I went on a dinner date every Friday night. It was the last Friday in February of 1998. He was late getting home, which was not unusual. After an hour, I knew that something was not right. There was a knock on the door. When I opened it, J’s brother, Duke, was standing there crying. My knees went weak, and I started shaking. I thought J was dead. Duke told me to pour us each a stiff drink, which I shakily did. He then told me to go to the bookcase and pull out Atlas Shrugged. Inside, was a letter from J. A very sad, but very beautiful letter. J was gay, and had been struggling with it for the last year or so. I was floored, but not shocked.

The letter was full of love, sadness and fear. The ending of the letter said I should never doubt his love for me. He said I was his north, his south, his east, and his west; his best friend; and his family. Assuming I would hate him, and never want to see him again, he was staying at an undisclosed location. J greatly underestimated me.  All I wanted was to know that he was okay. This involved plying Duke with enough alcohol to get him to tell me where he was. After a few hours, he broke down and took me to him. J looked like a scared child, and I held him, as we both cried. I then took his hand, and told him he needed to come home with me. He did.

Part 3 to come…

My Other Half, Part 1

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2006
Why I Suspected My Boyfriend Was Gay

Reason #36

He wanted to name our son Drakkar, after Drakkar Noir cologne. He thought we could call him Drake, for short.

Luckily, we never had children together.

I will never let him live this down.

My Other Half, Part 1
On the old blog, I had a series a posts that were titled, Why I Suspected My Boyfriend Was Gay. These posts were about an ex boyfriend, J. The ex boyfriend category is far too shabby to put J into, because he is so much more than that.

I met J in December of 1989 at the ski resort, where I had just started working. He was 19, and I was 20. We worked in the Executive Offices and were the youngest people by a decade, so we immediately bonded. He loved the way I dressed, and was always touching my clothes. He had a girlfriend, and I had a boyfriend, but we became really good friends. We both had big dreams and aspirations. The biggest was getting the hell out of Utah. I had been to New York a couple of times, and told him about it. He decided that’s where he wanted to go.

J was kind, handsome, funny and driven. Within 18 months, we realized we had fallen in love. We moved into a cute little apartment by the U, where we made home brewed beer, and threw fabulous dinner parties. We were young, happy and very much in love.

In the spring of 1993, we were both getting ready to finish school. Through my boss, we had met a woman who was an executive at the major newspaper in Miami. She talked to us about Miami, and said if we were interested, we would have no problem getting jobs at the paper. J left in June of 1993. I drove across the country with him, then flew back to Utah. I joined him in October. We were together in this new, strange and often scary city. We made the most of it, and did everything there was to do. It was like being on a vacation where you actually had the time to see everything.

We built a life, we built a business and as our 7 year anniversary was approaching, our world came to a screeching halt.

Part 2 to come………