Been a while, huh

Well gang, I know it has been awhile since a post but have been very busy with doll repairs, the small vegetable garden we have, housework, and enjoying some beautiful Ohio weather. We have to enjoy it while we have it and before snow flies--UUGGHH!!

With that thought in mind I decided this year I was not going to miss my summer being "locked up" indoors all season and have been spending more and more of it out doors. Even the dark, overcast days. For some reason I don't want to miss any of it.

Well this last Sunday was that memorial service for my friend Floyd, I ran into some old friends and had a decent time, but part of me wishes it was outside of the bar, and part of me wishes it had not been "more of a show", with drag queens and all. But when a drag queen I guess that is how some want it done. It left me feeling very blue for many reasons and maybe in another post I will get into what it was all about.

The other thing I want to touch on today and over the next couple of days is Gay Pride. Which if you didn't know is this month. It commemorates the dates and era of the Stonewall Riots, when we as gay and lesbians first fought back in a major way. It is marked by festivals, parades and lots of events. For me Gay Pride has literally come to represent that I am still alive.

My first Gay Pride Parade was 16 years ago in Cleveland, I was out long before that to myself and a very small group of friends but no one else. When I did "fully come out" I decided to do the parade. That following July after being sick for a month and losing 55 pounds--from at the time 175 to 120 and fainting at work and school 3 times, I went to the doctor. He asked had I eve been exposed to anyone with AIDS and I had to answer yes as I had lost both a boyfriend and a lover to AIDS. Well he ran the test and long story short I was diagnosed HIV+ July 16, 1991 and with full blown AIDS the following year.

So every year since then I have tried to attend Gay Pride and mark my anniversary of having AIDS and still being alive by celebrating who I am. I know it it isn't for everyone, and I know it can be a spectacle but has been a very big part of my life.

I want to close with some very wonderful thoughts from Harvey Fierstein on Gay Pride Day, this was from the television show "In the Life". Some very interesting thoughts and some of my own thoughts said very well. For those out of the loop Harvey was in "Hairspray" on Broadway as Edna Turnblad, in "Torch Song Trilogy", "Mrs. Doubtfire" and endless other movies. And for my dear friend Lisa Varuolo following the "Harvey Youtube post, the next one is just for you and I--hope it makes you smile