50 sense

Conversations at some point go off on how weird/quirky someone is. In the midst of these conversations I always wonder how weird /quirky people think I am. I feel sure I become the topic of the weird/quirky conversations on occasion. Don't you know you are, too?

After returning from a reunion with my birth family I have found myself feeling more connected to them than I ever have. Over the past 13 years since I located this family, I have done little to really get to know most of them. Since the death of my brother last month I have a new interest in these people with similar DNA. I realize my chances to know and understand them lessen with every passing day. Now I am trying to learn of their triumphs and suffering and how they have emerged or submerged.

I think it is important to learn as much as I can about my gene pool
in order
to learn all I can
about
me.

My partner grew up in rural Oklahoma and I in rural Texas. We have both lived in Dallas over 25 years. We have seven small yippy dogs, five cats, twenty doves in an outside aviary, four lovebirds, and a barking cockatiel. I figure we are about two animals shy of being considered hoarders. You can take the girls out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girls.

I grew up in the ranching community of Spur, (west) Texas. After college I moved to Dallas to escape the Republican homophobes of west Texas. Governor Rick Perry is from Paint Creek, (west) Texas. President George W. Bush is from Midland, (west) Texas. Need I say more? I heard once that Midland queers are afraid to come out of the closet for fear someone will think they are Democrats. The city provides me an environment of anonymity among heterosexuals. In Dallas I am just another queer instead of the "town queer". On the other hand the large subculture of homosexuals here provides a sense of community. Here in the "mecca" I can be me and not be ashamed. The city affords me the opportunity to surround myself with "my kind" if I so choose. Believe me, there is something comforting about that. I and my partner of 15 years are staying right here in Dallas, Texas whether we are allowed to marry or not.

Sorry, Governor Perry, Texas queers are here to stay!