Dreams Come True



My friends got married the other day.  The fact that they’re both male is somewhat noteworthy, but with Marriage Equality wending its way across the United States, less so.  That the ceremony took place aboard a Rose Bowl Float is what took the world by storm.  It’s a little surreal to be watching along with 80 million others when you actually know the people on the screen.  (And kudos to so many of the TV stations for not cutting away.)  The best way for me to celebrate their marriage and the start of a new calendar year is by introducing you to them.
 
I met Danny some 16 years ago.  He was hired (sight and resume unseen) by the owner of a client to take over my duties as I transitioned out of my role as day-to-day person and took on the role of a more traditional consultant.  Danny was younger than me, cuter and had a boyfriend.  Try as I might to dislike him for such things, I couldn't.  We immediately bonded.  He was eager to learn, had the smarts to pick up on things and the drive to succeed. He also laughed at my jokes, always a good thing in a budding friendship.
As my consulting business grew and expanded, I found myself in need of smart, energetic people.  Soon Danny agreed to work with me and for many years we worked together in a variety of entrepreneurial pursuits.  In addition to client work, we created a film company together and produced documentaries, plays and television programs that fulfilled a mission, if not the bottom line.  We invested in a property together – becoming land barons together. 
We not only had business things in common, but passion for movies, theatre and making a difference in the world.  Somehow the distinct lines of work colleagues and friends dissipated.   When his relationship dissolved I remember holding him as he wept and worked through the pain.  It was the right thing for him to be away from that boyfriend, but the tumult that it caused upset me as well.  Who dare hurt my friend?  It took a long time for him to recover, and our friendship remained strong.  What he needed was somebody who could love him the way he loved.
Sunday, April 14, 2002:  Danny showed up different.  We had been through ‘transformational’ work together – and knew each other as well as two people do.  This day his whole being was different.  “I met somebody.  His name is Aubrey and he’s the one.”
Truth be told – it took me a while to see that Aubrey was in fact the one.  Nothing made me happier than seeing Danny glow…but I was protecting him (and probably myself)…so it took some time before I too fell for Aubrey.  Handsome, smart and truly one of the most caring individuals on the planet, it was hard not to see how perfect they are together.
Soon their lives became totally interspersed.  They own businesses together, property and are community leaders in the nonprofit arena.  A piece of paper isn’t needed to validate their relationship. 
In 1989 the Rose Bowl Parade held its first wedding.  On the 25th anniversary of that wonderfully affirming event, the first same sex weddings were held on a Rose Bowl float.  The theme of the parade was “Dreams Come True” – and certainly it’s a dream come true to have my friends Danny and Aubrey in my life, and now to have them officially married.  Congratulations!
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give me a break!

The idiom “give me a break” generally is used when you don’t believe something that has happened or been said. We’ve all muttered the expression a lot lately, especially around the 2016 Presidential race. I am going to use it here more literally. I started this blog in late July 2010. This is the 329 th iteration. At an average of 750 words that’s nearly 250,000 words. To compare that’s about three average mystery novels (at 80,000 words each), much less than the Bible (800,000 words) and nowhere near the IRS Code (4 million words). Originally Craig’s Corner was a way to keep me focused during a long stint where I was without work or income. With gainful employment it has become a welcome respite from the day-to-day tasks. I tend to focus on issues that are interesting to me but not necessarily a critical part of what I do day in and day out. My perspective isn’t unique, but I do look at the word with a different lens. I’ve tried hard not to be part of the echo chamber and been...
Read more

Hoping for Grace

I wrote this blog regularly for many years, 330 unique posts. Every Thursday I’d post my thinking for the week. I always strove to offer a perspective that wasn’t in the main discourse on a particular issue. It wasn’t left or right or even center – just looking at something from a different angle. There were some really great dialogues that happened with people who appreciated nuance and having a substantive conversation. I never sought for agreement from readers, just a healthy and respectful debate. The election of Donald J. Trump changed the engagement from polite discourse to flame throwing character assination if somebody disagreed. That wasn’t interesting or productive to me, so the blog no longer served its intended purpose. I return to the format because today because it seems to be a good way to explore an issue that I’ve been long committed to, but handled in a thoughtless way. Recently I made a thoughtless comment on a Facebook post that was undeniably racist, and demean...
Read more

Giving the gift

Image
The holidays are right around the corner. It’s a time of reflection, excitement and no matter one’s religious predilections a there’s a tradition of gift giving. Talking about the holidays before Halloween is usually met with revulsion and resistance. This time it’s different. While we can’t grant everybody’s #1 wish – that the 2016 U.S. Presidential election cycle be over – maybe we can do something close.   Let’s give Donald J. Trump what he’s been talking about. I’m wary of adding to the proliferation of commentary on the Grand Old Party’s nominee. But then maybe there’s something to the Trump complaints. Instead of dismissing everything that comes out of his mouth as made up, perhaps we should be doing is more of what he worries about, not less. The more recent complaints from the real-estate tycoon have to do with media bias. All “the media” does is lie, distort and never gives him fair coverage. This same media generated over a billion dollars of free brand and...
Read more