To meet my deadline, I am writing this on May 18, but I don’t know why I should bother. According to certain reports on TV and in the newspaper, I will be taken to heaven in Rapture on May 21 long before this appears. But to be safe, in case I am overlooked, I might as well fill this space with pithy random thoughts; furthermore, I realize most of my friends will be anticipating my column and they will certainly still be here condemned to the horrific hell of life on earth.
A hell of which I can now speak from recent first-hand experience, namely, an eight hour flight next to a screaming, kicking 2-year-old held on the lap of a determinedly unconcerned and seemingly deaf parent. I dare not divulge the details due to the danger of the memories bringing on a stroke; suffice it to say when we landed and staggered off the plane, several of us ran to the nearest bar and I led them in a toast to King Herod.
Children have not been much of a part of my life. True, I was one, but my memories of that time have dimmed with the passing decades. I can only remember pleasant times with my perfect manners and good behavior being praised by all (except perhaps by my siblings). Why can’t children today act the same way?
Living in Hillcrest I seldom have occasion to interact with the little ones.
Oh dear, those words remind me of the time I unsuspectingly checked into a hotel in Amsterdam and then found out it was hosting a convention of gay little people. Talk about little devils. What a weekend! My lips are sealed.
Back to the children. Although I have no desire at this stage of my life to be a parent, it is wonderful to see the two mommies, two daddies and the single parents with their kids. If the men and women of the senior gay community had had this choice years ago, it would have given pause to many of us who automatically canceled this possibility from our lives.
Many gay people did get married and have children, of course, but with such a decision came great sacrifice and even personal anguish. My friends who did this have had a wide range of marriage success from wonderful to nightmarish. The bottom line being they are loving parents and many found happiness with their partner, yet something was always missing.
If only they had been allowed to find a partner of their own choice/inclination, as they can today, what different lives they might have led. But we can say, “If only” about everything: the house we didn’t buy, the stock we sold too soon, the cute guy we didn’t speak to. What a waste of time thinking such thoughts. Many older people spend too much time regretting, bitching and moaning about spilt milk after the barn is locked.
People love to hang on to misfortunes, perceived insults and broken hearts.
We seniors don’t have time for such self-indulgence. Take a quiet moment and meditate on the good, beauty, puppy-dogs (darling, precious child. Darling, precious child. There, I feel better already, honest).
