Anniversary

Here is a photograph that I snapped last night during the annual Gay Pride Parade here in Washington, DC. I don't know who this little girl is, but she really blessed me. For me she is Miss Tomorrow. She represents the next generation and wll perhaps be one of many who will usher in greater tolerance and acceptance of gay people.

There she is, wrapped in the Rainbow flag....and smiling broadly. Ah, what a wonderful world it is going to be. And, come to think of it, I have seen a great changed in the world over the last 30 or so years. We have so much to be thankful for.

The Pride celebration is always a time of tremendous fun and revelry here for me, simply because it represents the one time during the year where a whole host of gay men and women become fully visible here in the streets of Washington, DC. It's hard to describe why this means so much to me. But I suppose, if you're gay and you've experienced it, you can certainly understand what the feeling is like.

This year was especially wonderful, because I have a tradition. That tradition is that I generally attend the Pride parade with one of my children and with my Brokeback Mountain. BUT, because #1 is in the jungles of El Salvador, #2 is in the hills of Tennessee, and my son is enjoying all his work at Camp LeJeune, all I had was Mr. Brokeback.

Just getting to have that time with him meant more to me than I can say. This was also the first time that he and I actually gave each other some great big bear hugs and kissed openly right at New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. at Dupont Circle! Yes, we're coming up on 10 years of our relationship, and the love that I have for him is still as strong as ever.

The parade ended around 8pm, and Mr. Brokeback and I headed toward an Italian Restaurant to meet up with my gay friends from church. We had a ball!

But I guess the thing that stands out in my mind more than anything else is that somewhere in the midst of my dinner, Brokeback looked over at me and said, "This is your anniversary."

"Anniversary? What anniversary?"

"June 9th!," he said.

And, I had to actually put down my fork and catch my breath.

You see, I had gone through the entire day and had not given it one thought.

Two years ago yesterday, Lovey lowered the boom on me and announced her plans to separate and divorce me.

TWO WHOLE YEARS AGO!

And for all the trauma I have been through this past two years and the fact that I received word that the divorce was final! Well, to say I had forgotten about June 9 says a whole lot about my healing.

Yes, I'm still sad....and 'm working through this......

But, I think the healing has begun.

Oh God. Can it be?