GAY LIFE

Family Matters, Post #1, (The Good News): (Making a long story short for the blog) An old childhood friend from my family's church came back home to Kansas City recently for a family wedding at the church and he talked and talked with my Mother and she gave him my contact information. She figured he was Gay and the guy he was with was his partner. She was right on both counts. He emailed me and we've been talking a lot this week. He is about 6 years older than me and when we were much younger, during our church days as kids, we bonded back then but without much understanding of why until now. It's funny how even when you don't know about yourself or each other, you can still bond with people who are similar. He left church to go to college where he then came out, but I never saw him again. Years later, I came out in college too.

The interesting thing about all this is that his family and my family are very close to each other at the church. Each family knows and accepts each of us respectively. And yet, they've never, ever, not even once, discussed the similar issue with each other. It also turns out that there are several other Gay connections throughout our very small family church in the middle of the Midwest. And yet, no dialogue; no connections; whispers in the dark but no light. So many people going through similar issues and concerns and hopes and yet no discussion. Hmmm. How can this be? Well, silence is easy; it's talking that's hard.

Well, all that's about to change. As he and I've been talking, we've also been updating our respective Mothers. And our Mothers are about to have a conversation that they are more than ready for and that would very good for them emotionally, religiously, and socially. Now to get them to begin the conversation. It's coming soon. Additionally, he and I will one day soon connect again in person as he visits me here or I go to St. Louis to visit him. The future is ahead of us.