Re: Part 3 - Growing up, coming out, getting wet
Posted by wetjumper on January 02, 2023 at 00:34:41
In Reply to: Part 3 - Growing up, coming out, getting wet posted by Patrick on December 31, 2022 at 04:53:16:
Wow... when I first read Part 3 I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I found myself crying. In a good way. I've just read it again and I hope I can post coherently now.
This story is one of the most heartfelt and moving I've read for a very long time. Brilliantly told too. Thank you.
I was particularly struck by your parents' reactions - at times highly embarrassing, but with growing acceptance and love (whatever their faults). Your dad's wise words at the end just set me off.
My dad had similar difficulties with talking about emotions, as have I, so we never got that far - too much awkwardness - although I never had a more-than-a-friend I could take home and, er, let people see (or be unable to hide) the depth of my feelings. My dad had some idea of my orientation when I was 18 but we didn't talk about it. Latterly he saw me getting wet in clothes a few times but we didn't talk about that either. My mum ought to have known, but when she was terminally ill she repeatedly asked me "Peter, why don't you find yourself a girlfriend?" - it might have been cruel to spell it out, and I guessed she might have started asking with a heavy-handed show of acceptance "Why don't you find yourself a boyfriend?" - I couldn't have coped with that on top of her illness.
I never knew anyone like Willy who was actually interested in me in the same way. One of those "what if..." issues. The best I managed for a few years was a deep and romantic (for me) platonic friendship which stopped short of touching.
There you go - more "heart on my sleeve" stuff for the forum...
Patrick, please write more of your wonderfully perceptive and thought-provoking stories for us. You can count me as a fan!
Peter (wetjumper)