Finally

We went to the gay pride parade last Sunday and it was a fantastic day. We had a great time. Mel told me that she indeed felt proud. I was proud too, but mostly of her. She would’ve called me silly if she’d seen my brimming eyes behind my sunglasses. Her going, making the attempt, meant a lot to me. Even better, she seemed to actually enjoy it. We saw everyone we know – my friends, her friends, people that I hadn’t seen in forever – it was awesome.

Mel did see her nemesis too, the one object of hatred I referred to previously. They actually had several good looks at each other, and Mel couldn’t help but be gleeful that she looked quite aged, and skanky as ever. At one point, she walked by us, and after passing us and getting about 30 feet in front of us, you could see her telling her companion “look there’s Mel.” They both turned their heads back to look at us and stopped, looking like they might come back towards us. Mel mouthed at her “keep walking.” So she did… and that’s a good thing.

We had taken puppy-girl Thilde with us to the parade and festivities. Mel calls her a chick magnet. She is, totally. Loads of people approached us to pet her and get information. It got tiring after a while, though. We should’ve had t-shirts printed with answers to all the questions like: “What kind of dog is she?” “Will she get any bigger?” “What’s her name?” were a few of the more common. We even met a couple about our age who have two chocolate MinPins just like my little girl. They also used to have the same kind of parrot I do and would like to get another one eventually. I told them I could put them in touch with the breeder I’d gotten my bird from. Very nice women, they suggested that we have a doggie play date sometime and gave me their email address.

Mel and I have been talking about some of the groups listed in the gay section of our local arts rag. There’s a bicycling group, a walking group, a bowling group and a sci-fi group that we’ve decided are possibilities. We’ll check out one or two and see how it goes. And of course, there’s the Unitarian church. Since I’m agnostic and Mel is pagan, that might work out. We have friends that sing in the choir and attend regularly. We’ll go slow and see what happens.

Perhaps the ghosts are going away. My sweetie faced a few last weekend and it turned out okay. I’m tickled. I so hope this was the turning point I think it was.