Pants-less and Undie-less

While packing, I uncovered another treasure from my past.  Labatt's Blue was "my" brand of beer when I bought this muscle shirt in 1985.   I thought it was the coolest shirt ever because the graphic glows in the dark.

A fellow blogger who writes Gay Married in the Midwest posted about his "going commando" day recently.   What do you call a pants-less and undie-less day?  To be honest, I wasn't in that condition all day since some of my kids were here.

I ran into a former colleague, "Mary",  today at the grocery store.   We had worked closely together for several years and our families had visited back and forth.   We've lost contact since she moved to another division but Mary, my wife and I still work for same employer.

About four years ago at the age of forty, Mary told her husband and two boys that she was gay.  Mary and her husband have divorced quite amicably.   She's been in a LTR for the past three years with a young woman about twenty years her junior.  Mary, her partner and her ex-husband often go on family outings together with their two teenage boys.

I said to Mary, "I guess you've heard that _ _ _  and I are getting divorced."    She said that she'd heard this news.   I took a deep breath and took the plunge, "I think you can relate to this, but have you heard the reason that we're getting divorced?   That I figured out that I was gay?"

To my shock, Mary admitted that she had already heard this.  Wow, I guess I'm really "out" now!  This was the first confirmation that someone who wasn't family or a very close friend knew that I was gay.   My reaction:  "Excellent!  I want everyone to know!!"

Mary introduced me to her partner, compassionate, beautiful young woman and we quickly compared notes about our amazing similarities of our journeys.   She said, rolling her eyes, "The signs were there all along... how could I not have known?.... the deepest-buried denial!!"

We just howled with laughter (again, in the grocery story aisle) about our coming-out experiences.  I told her about losing my virginity with Hottie Nurse and how most of the hits generated by my online profile were from guys twenty years younger than me.  Mary and her partner explained that a big age gap was much more of  an issue in heterosexual relationships than in homosexual ones.

Both Mary and her partner were highly supportive, positive and very funny about our situations.   While I have lots of such support from online friends, they are the only two real life gay friends with whom I've discussed my gayness face-to-face. (except Cubby and Greg, last July)

It felt really good!   Once things settle down for me, I have a feeling that with a tiny suggestion from me, I will be able to socialize with them every now and then.   It would be great to meet others in their gay social circle.