esrosedotblog

Today is our forty first anniversary as a couple.

John and I met sometime in April of 1975 and so we adopted this day as our time of meeting.

We were both just out of the closet and he answered an ad I had put in the alternate weekly personals.

We met on City Hall Plaza. I can still see him walking toward me on the huge brick courtyard. I knew it was him.

We didn't waste any time. The deal was to get acquainted at Peter's Plum, a bar right on the corner of the Plaza and we did. In about fifteen minutes.

We went back to my place six blocks away and the rest is history.

He still reminds me that I walked him through the dumpster basement entrance. The shortest distance between two points.

I will not go further on what happened at my place that day but I can say that I still remember most of the details.

It took us a long time to get over the suddenness of our attraction. It just didn't seem right to get hooked up so quickly.

A lot of men and a lot of time and a lot of turmoil led us to finally surrender to the inevitable.

There are all kinds of things I could say about this meeting. Fate? Desire? Good luck?

I do not question any of it.

Here we are, still together, on another coast doing as well as two old guys can do who do not feel old. Still living the dream.

Yes, a cliché, but a true one nonetheless.

Labels: anniversary

It is our fortieth "meeting anniversary".

We met on or about April 1st, 1975.

I had placed a personal ad in one of the alternative newspapers in Boston.

There were some responses but nothing that turned out to be very interesting.

Then, sort of late in the game, came a note, then a call and then a meet up.

I met John in the great City Hall Plaza in Boston. He worked there. We were to connect at the T station on the upper end but I could see him coming across the vast expanse of brick that marks that "hallowed" place.

By the time he got to me, I was kind of speechless but we went upstairs at a bar that was right there, Peter's Plum, and had a drink.

Before we had finished, I asked him to come back to my apartment which was several blocks away. To talk.

That is how things were done in those days.

So, we went.

I was anxious to get there so we walked through the back basement door which was the first entrance we got to. The closest to the elevators.

He has never forgotten that.

Me either.

Nor what happened when we got to my studio apartment. But I will draw the blinds here and let you know that our first times together were quite special.

We dated. I tried to get away from his clutches. I wasn't ready for a "relationship" but I think that I also let him catch me.

It wasn't too long after that he was the only one for me and has been ever since.

Not that we didn't try some others here and there. But not seriously.

I hardly expected such a thing to happen. The stuff of fairy tales, the prince arriving out of nowhere with a glass slipper or something like that.

We had our hard times. We had to move through a lot early on but somehow it was never difficult. The teamwork started early.

I am so grateful for my life with John. We never set out for longevity. But here it is. A life second to none.

Labels: anniversary, life