Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Yay for Mr. I.

Sometimes I write here about my friend Mr. Inappropriate. Mr. I. has had a hold on my emotions for almost ten years. Well, this past weekend he told someone about us for the first time; he told his girlfriend who was enthusiastically accepting. I have rarely heard him so happy and hardly ever heard the tenderness in my voice that I heard last night. His call ended with him saying how much he was looking forward to us getting together this week. Me too.
By outing himself to her, by calling himself a bisexual for the first time out loud, he has taken a huge step for himself in a society that is far more accepting and fluid about sexual identity. And doing so clearly made him very happy. He is flush with the euphoria of coming out of the closet I remember. And it has made me really happy too; I feel less of a secret, less of something he was ashamed of or confused by — less in the shadows and more secure in our relationship.
I’ve committed myself to the Columbia speech assessment. I’m going on January 3rd for the first of two appointments. It’s really expensive but it will be interesting to hear what they say about my potential for improvement through therapy. By taking this assessment I become eligible for their summer residency program — just eligible. There are, I’m sure, a finite number of spaces and as a retiree not losing income due to my condition, I may not be a priority for the program. But since reading that Annie Glenn’s speech problem (which was considerably worse than mine) was cured in a similar residency program, I am super keen to try for it. Besides, if I don’t make their residency program, they may offer other (purchasable) treatment options.
















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