Friends

Michael with me (what big feet you have Ron) , Pat, Someone and Larry and Tim in Palm Springs this past February for Michael & David's marriage. We're at the top of San Jacinto mountain.

Yesterday was the 55th birthday of my good friend Michael, aka "Dr. Spo."  

Michael taking an important phone call, even on top of Mt. Jacinto

I wish him a very happy birthday via birthday card and Facebook posting.  

I would give him a big birthday hug and kiss if he lived nearby but alas, Michael lives in Phoenix, Arizona, many miles from our little seaside hamlet here on the coastal shore of Delaware.

I met Dr. Spo through the Internet.  That is I saw his picture on a blog roll of my late dear friend Wayne "The Cajun" Juneau.  I was immediately attracted to Dr. Spo because of his classic handsome features and that dark beard. I've always been a sucker for beards, no pun intended. 

When the Internet first became popular, I heard of people meeting "friends" through the Internet. But I have to tell you I was mighty suspicious. Sounded specious to me.  Not quite right. How wrong I was.

But I have to tell you folks, even though I wasn't seeking friends through the Internet (and I really wasn't although at one time I did but that's a story for a later and much longer blog post), I have met some of the nicest people through the Internet.  Not many but the ones I have met, really nice people. 

Of course the best example of that is my friendship with Pat, my best friend Canadian "Eh?" Travel Buddy from Toronto.  We met through the Internet, a story which I have told several times (perhaps too many) through this blog.

David and Pat in Palm Springs, California - two friends met through the Internet

But back to Dr. Spo (Michael).  

It was my great privilege this year to be invited to his wedding to his longtime partner "Someone", aka David.  They were married in Palm Springs this past February.

The newlyweds, David and Michael - Palm Springs, California 2017

 Pat and I visit Los Angeles, California every cold January or February.  This year we made a side trip to Palm Springs to witness the marriage of these two fine men, along with a few other of Michael's friends whose friendships he developed through the Internet.

Of course I fell in love with Palm Springs, this being my first visit (but it won't be my last).  What a privilege it was to be invited to this marriage ceremony.  And it was lovely, that I can tell you!

So today I wish a very happy birthday to my good friend Dr. Spo (even though his birthday was actually yesterday).

Happy birthday Dr. Spo and thank you for enriching my life with your friendship.

Me, Dr. Spo and David - first meeting

The Power of the Blog

Bill (on the right in the bib overalls) and mother and sisters and step brother 1932

Want to know why I blog?  I've asked and answered this question before and have given several different answers the main one being that I just like to write.  But another reason is that I'm reaching out.  Perhaps I didn't consciously realize that I was reaching out but that has been the result of several of my blog postings this year.


One of my blog postings this year was recounting my first sexual experience.  In that blog posting I posted the Social Security Death Index name of the man with whom I first shared an intimate relationship with in 1963.  From that name being posted on my blog his son, who has the same name, found my blog posting through an Internet search engine.  He contacted me.  He told me that he and his family had known of rumors that his father was gay but never had any real proof until he read my blog. 


He told me that his mother had written a book about that period of his father's life.  I was able to purchase the book from Amazon.com and had the surreal experience of reading about my paramour's life from the "other side."  While I was never mentioned directly in his mother's book (they didn't know my name), she does mention her husband disappearing at times for places unknown.  Those places "unknown" sometimes were my apartment.  


Thus I was able to fill in a chapter of my life that, if not for blogging and the Internet, I would never have known about before.


Now this week comes about another situation.  This past summer I wrote about the trip my partner Bill and I took down to his hometown of Toccoa, Georgia this past summer.  One of the items of information in that blog I wrote the name of Bill's step-father, whose grave site we visited.  From the mention of that name, Bill's nephew contacted me through my blog.  This was a very unique situation because Bill has been estranged from his family for 48 years.  The falling out came after Bill's Mother's funeral.  


In all the years since her funeral, Bill cut off contact with his family. Because we have moved several times over the years since Bill cut off contact, they didn't know where Bill lived.  Bill's nephew was only four years old at the time of the funeral.  He didn't know why contact was cut off.  All he knew was that "Uncle Buddy" (as Bill is known to his family), disappeared.  He and his family assumed that Bill had died.  Thus it came with some surprise that Bill's nephew was able to find Bill through an Internet search of his grandfather's (Bill's step-father) name.


Even though his nephew contacted me this past summer, I was reluctant to let Bill know.  I have always wanted Bill to reunite with his family but he was always adamantly against it.  I didn't want to upset him by telling him that someone from his family had contacted me through a blog posting I had made.  His nephew and I have been in contact all this time.  I told the nephew that I would tell Bill when I felt it was right.  


This past week I took the big step.  His nephew had sent me some pictures of their family, including one of Bill when Bill was only five years old.  Bill has never seen this picture.  


The opportunity came this Sunday when Bill and I were joking about how ugly we have become since we got old (something we do all the time to avoid facing the reality that we really are ugly old men now.)  I told Bill "I found a picture of you as a 5 year old brat on the Internet."  Of course Bill thought I was joking.  I told him to come to my computer and I would show him the picture.  I showed it to him and he still didn't believe me.  The picture (which is the one pictured at the top of this blog posting) is of Bill, his two sisters, his Mother and Bill's step-brother, the uncle of the nephew who contacted Bill.  


Bill still didn't believe me even though was looking at the picture.  Then I showed him some other pictures that his nephew had sent of his family and his mother.  Bill looked at the pictures and, with jaw agape, asked "how did you get these pictures?"  I told him but he was still unbelieving.  


Actually, I am in awe of the power of the Internet and what a simple blog posting has done to change the course of someone's life.  This is just incredible what has happened with Bill and his family.  For years I have wanted him to be reunited with his family.  


Bill is now in e-mail contact with his nephew.  He says he wants to meet him and yet doesn't because meeting him will stir up all the old memories he has tried to bury these past 48 years.  


Bill and I were planning on returning to his hometown of Toccoa this spring.  I am confident that Bill will meet his nephew and, hopefully, his one remaining surviving sister.  This is something I've been hoping for ever since I've known Bill.  We all have differences with our families but we only have one family.  Life is just too short to carry grudges to our graves. 


The next time when someone asks me why I blog I'll tell them my stories and how blogging has changed my life and others for the better.  


That is why I blog.

Here We Go Again

For the last several months I have notice that I cannot watch a You Tube video without it pausing. I’ve also noticed that the past several months that my Internet downloads take a long time to download. Here we go again. I’m about to do battle with my Internet service provider, Verizon.



Sunday I did a speed test. As I suspected my Internet speed wasn’t up to 3 MB as I was promised and what I’m paying Verizon for monthly. Instead my Internet speed varies between 200 and 500 kbps. This isn’t the high speed Internet service I’m paying for.



Here we go again. Sunday I started the series of phone calls that is necessary to resolve this problem. I don’t to bore the readers of this blog with all the hoops I had to jump through until I got a real person. The “real person” was Sanjay in India. Someone who I could hardly understand his English. That torturous phone conversation ended with Sanjay telling me I had too much on my Startup and that was affecting my Internet speed. I’m not a techie but I knew this was a ridiculous explanation.



Yesterday I took the plunge again and called Verizon. Again, I jump through all the hoops until I finally got a real person. This time it was a man from Canada. At least I could understand him. Again, I answered all the questions on his script. We did another speed test which confirmed that my Internet speed is SLOW.



This time he’s going to write up a ticket. Then he transfers me to a real technician. This guy is Mr. Smooth. At the end of the conversation, after I answer all the same questions and go through another speed test, he says “Someone will contract me if it is NECESSARY to do so.” What? I DON’T HAVE THE INTERET SPEED THAT I AM PAYING FOR!



After almost three hours on the phone yesterday morning, I am no further along than I was when I made my first phone call on Sunday.



So now I await the call from Verizon.



I’ve been here before. When I first moved here in November of 2006 I went through the nightmare of Comcast. I dumped Comcast and got Verizon. That is my only choice in the area, Comcast or Verizon. That is some choice isn’t it? That’s competition.



Stay tuned.