Thankful...

It's been a long time, gentle readers. And yet, it's as if we never said goodbye. It's not that I'd forgotten you. No, I think of you each and every day.

Today is a special day. It is the anniversary of my decision to come out. I remember the setting, the feeling, the music, the time. It was the right decision. It was hard, of course, but not nearly as hard as I had imagined, dreaded. I'm not a guy for whom the bromide - "What's the worst that can happen?" - is ever a comfort, for I can imagine gruesome atrocities in perfect technicolor. And so I built it up in my mind to be unbearable.

In actuality, it is quite bearable. Happy, even.

I want to give a special ghetto Price Is Right shout out to all along the way who have made this journey tolerable, interesting, joyous, hilarious, even treacherous.

It always amazes me how many fellow sojourners I meet with the SAME story of the SAME experiences of the SAME Nazirenes oppressing them for the SAME tired homophobic reasons. At a professional meeting today I met a man from another state who, it turns out, has the same sordid tale of sexual repression and spiritual evisceration. We will be discussing his developmental romp through the psychosexual Abu Ghraib that is Nazirenedom in an exclusive interview later in the week. Please check back.

Until then, I am again thankful for all of you, gentle readers. Here in its entirity is the haunting theme of my coming out - playing preternaturally as the score for my coming out moment. A coincidence? I think not.

Please enjoy. Don't forget to check back for the exciting interview!